Brush Strokes and High Notes
by Elle D'Elajoie
Summary: After the New Directions lose Sectionals and Sam doesn't pass the state-required exams again, Lima doesn't hold much for him anymore. Plus, he has figured something out about himself. What happens when he heads to New York to finish high school? Season 4 AU - no Blam or Bram. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Sam went through the checklist on the last website one final time and then shut his laptop down. His desk was empty except for an envelope. All of the non-essential papers had been shredded and everything from the checklists was in the folder in his hand. He put the folder and the laptop in his backpack.

He looked around the room that had been his for slightly more than a year. The bed was made. The closet had been emptied into a couple of large plastic storage containers, which were sitting inside the closet where they could not be seen. His loose drawings and watercolor paintings had been carefully rolled into a cardboard tube to keep them from getting wrinkled before placing them with the canvases and his sketchpads into another storage container, which was also inside the closet. The only thing that was still sitting out in the room was his guitar, which was leaned up against the dresser.

He had given his two weeks notice two weeks ago. His last shift had been the evening before. His car was finally completely paid for. He had given Burt the final payment a month ago. Kurt had whipped it into tiptop shape over the summer with some minimal help from Sam and he had given it a tune up right before heading off to New York a little over two months ago. Sam had the title and his insurance policy in a small expandable file, along with his personal documents that he had managed to get his parents to give him the last time he visited them in Kentucky in one of the storage boxes with his clothes.

He went downstairs to make sure that everyone had left for the day. Once he was sure that he was alone, he made himself a sandwich and ate it. He grabbed a gallon ziplock bag from the kitchen to put his toiletry items from the bathroom in. He did one final sweep of the laundry room to make sure that he hadn't left anything behind. He went back upstairs, filled the ziplock bag and placed it in one of the clothing storage boxes. He went into Kurt's room and opened his closet door and walked in. He took off his letterman jacket and hung it in the closet and put on a green puffer vest that Kurt had told him that he could have. He put his backpack on and brought down the storage containers and his guitar. He grabbed his hat and gloves out of his backpack and put them on. He carried the storage boxes and guitar outside and put them in the trunk of his car. He took the backpack off and tossed it into the passenger seat and headed off to McKinley one last time.

He parked, grabbed his backpack, and headed into the building. He went directly to the see the art teacher, Mrs. Davidson. She knew he was stopping by her office and she handed him an envelope when he came in. He put it in the folder in his backpack and thanked her. He went to the locker room next and made his way to Coach Beiste's office. She was waiting for him as well. She also handed him an envelope. He pulled out the folder and placed it in as well.

"Are you sure about this, son?"

"Definitely. There's nothing left for me here in Lima."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that and I wish you the best with whatever plans you have. I'll miss having you on the team."

"Thanks, Coach. And thanks for the recommendation letter."

"You're welcome, Sam." She stood and walked around her desk and gave him a big bear hug. "You be safe."

"I will."

Sam left the locker room. He stopped by his locker and removed the books that were in there. He had taken everything else home the day before. He went to Miss Pillsbury's office next. He had to wait a few minutes for his scheduled appointment. Once he was inside, he placed the textbooks on her desk. He sat in a chair facing her. She pulled out a file folder. She handed him an official copy of his transcript.

"Thank you," he said as he took it from her and placed it into his folder.

"You're quite welcome, Sam. I have the withdrawal form here, if you could sign both copies, please."

He signed both and placed his copy in his folder.

"I'll take care of returning your textbooks to the main office, along with turning this form in, after you leave."

"Thank you for that. I appreciate not having to face Principal Figgins questioning me. Also, thanks for getting all of the teachers to allow me to take my finals earlier this week rather than taking them next week and for getting them to turn in my final grades so they could be on that transcript. I also appreciate you not telling them the full reason for my request."

"No problem. What we've discussed in here is confidential. I told the teachers what you asked me to tell them, which was truthful, yet incomplete. They did not need to know the rest in order to do what I asked them to."

"Well, I appreciate that."

"I'm sorry to see you go. Does anyone else know that you're leaving Lima?"

"Only Coach Bieste because I didn't want to leave her hanging when I'm not there for practice. She's not going to say anything to anyone. Also, I gave my two weeks notice at work. I need a good recommendation, so I couldn't just leave with no notice."

"Well, I'm glad you thought about that. Well, if there is anything else I can ever do for you, you know where to find me. I wish you the best, Sam."

"Thanks, Miss Pillsbury." Sam stood and left the office. He looked down the hallway once last time remembering the good times at the school before he turned and left the building.

He tossed his backpack back into the passenger seat, pulled out his phone and put in his destination. It would take 9 hours and 45 minutes to arrive. He figured that he could drive five hours, pull over to take a nap, get something to eat, and the drive the last five hours and arrive somewhere between 8-10pm.

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As he was driving, the events of the fall semester flashed back through his mind.

" _Blaine Warbler, I'd like to introduce you to Sam Evans."_

" _Um, we've actually met, several times."_

" _He's your candidate for vice president."_

" _Um, no. I'm picking my own running mate."_

Sam was so glad that he had walked away and wished him luck. Not even a week after the election that he supposedly ran in for Kurt, he had cheated on him.

" _Sam, Kurt was my soulmate. We talked about spending the rest of our lives together. Now, he won't even return my calls. He won't text me. He's gone, maybe forever."_

" _I get it. Everybody's been there. You'll get through it."_

Looking back, he couldn't believe that Blaine would expect any of those things from Kurt. Someone can't just sleep with a random and think that their boyfriend is just going to be accepting of that and get over it a week later. It was a choice he made and he should have realized that Kurt was never going to take him back.

" _Relationships are about trust, and I don't trust you anymore. I was stupid to come back. Rachel's right. This isn't home anymore."_

He overheard them talking in the hallway after _Grease_. He completely understood the sentiment. Lima wasn't home. He had been without a home for a long time now, but he didn't feel alone in Lima until after Kurt left.

" _I hurt him, so of course he's not going to trust me. He's never going to forgive me."_

" _Even if he doesn't, you've gotta forgive yourself."_

At least Blaine had finally come to his senses and realized that Kurt's behavior was normal. He wasn't expecting Kurt to come running back to him anymore. Sam was trying to encourage Blaine to move on with his life. Sometimes, broken things can't be put back together.

The new leader of the Warblers left the laptop, enticing Blaine to retrieve the stolen trophy. He came back without it. Sam took the laptop, drove to Dalton, showed the video to the headmaster and left a few minutes later with the New Directions' trophy in hand.

" _The teacher that sees me after school has been really helpful."_

" _What teacher?"_

" _The one that helps me with my dyslexia that Finn took me to see."_

" _There's a special teacher for that?"_

" _Yeah."_

Finn was so concerned about getting Ryder help. Why did no one ever tell him that they had a special teacher at school that helped kids with dyslexia? Even Miss Pillsbury never mentioned it. She sat there and told him that he hadn't passed the OGTs last year and never offered anything other than her condolences. It had been Kurt that had helped him the past two years, not a special teacher.

His mind wandered back through those two years. After they broke off the duet, Kurt called him and they had discussed how Finn had approached each of them telling them how singing together would be a bad idea. Somehow the topic of Sam's struggles in school had come up. Kurt offered to help him and to avoid the issue of them being seen together, Kurt had come up with the Skype idea. He kept it up even after he transferred to Dalton. When he found out about Sam's family losing their home, Kurt brought clothes, toys, and snacks to the motel. They kept in contact over the summer, but Sam had hidden what he was doing to make money because he was too embarrassed for Kurt to find out, but when he came back Kurt didn't ridicule him or make him feel ashamed at all, unlike Blaine.

Sam couldn't figure out what made Blaine think that he had forgotten how he had reacted to him the previous year. He and Blaine had never been friends. He figured that somehow he had become the one that Blaine talked to because all of the other Glee guys were gone except Artie and they hadn't been friends either. He found Blaine's superhero alter ego very strange because he had never once given any indication that he had any interest in superheroes or comics in the year and a half that Sam had known him. He never seemed to get Sam's jokes or his references. All he could figure was that Blaine was trying to reinvent himself after losing Kurt and trying to become Sam's friend was part of that agenda. It was just a little too weird for Sam, though.

Living with Kurt had been all sorts of fun. He had gotten Kurt up-to-date on all the sci fi and pop culture references by getting Kurt to watch movies with him. And in return, he watched black and white classics with Kurt. He even found out how good Kurt was at video games whenever Finn wasn't around. Sam got to see the real Kurt that was hidden beneath the prim and proper exterior of designer clothes and perfectly coiffed hair. He watched as Kurt reassembled parts of his car explaining each step of the process with his hands covered in grime. Sam was on the receiving end of smeared cupcake frosting on his nose when Kurt got silly in the kitchen. Kurt had squealed and run away, escaping before Sam could retaliate. Sam could always expect a plate of food in the fridge when he worked late shifts and missed dinner. These and so many other things came to mind as Sam drove.

His memories moved back to more recent ones again.

" _The New Directions has lost Sectionals."_

The dreaded words that had come out of Sue Sylvester's mouth when she came in the room after Marley had fainted. New Directions wasn't moving on for the first time in three years. New Directions was over for the year. Kurt didn't come home for Thanksgiving and he had missed out on dinner with his own family because Sectionals was held on Thanksgiving Day for some bizarre reason. The next week, he heard the final blow.

" _I'm sorry, Sam, but you didn't pass the OGTs."_

Miss Pillsbury said it just like she did the year before. How many times could he repeat his senior year? His SAT scores were abysmal too. It was then that he had broken down. He went to visit his parents the following weekend. He asked for his birth certificate and social security card. He came back and asked Miss Pillsbury to set his finals up early so he could just finish the semester and get out of town. He already had enough credits to graduate last May. He wasn't sticking around for another semester just to not graduate again.

He replayed so many things in his mind as he drove - so many thoughts and memories. He was moving on, moving forward, moving out of state. A little more than twelve hours after he had left Lima, he had arrived at his destination.

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Sam knocked on the door. It opened and he was immediately enveloped in the arms of the person he had missed the most. "I'm so glad you're here. Come in. Come in. Set your guitar down and let me grab my coat. I'll help you carry your stuff in."

Kurt and Sam went out to Sam's car and in two trips they had carried everything up. They put Sam's boxes in Kurt's bedroom. They took their coats off and hung them on the clothes rack that Kurt had. "I've been so excited all day just waiting for you to get here. I've really missed you. I have a plate of food for you in the fridge, if you're hungry."

"Of course, you do. You always had a plate of food waiting for me in the fridge when I came home late from work."

"Come on. I'll warm it up."

Sam followed him out to the kitchen. He ate the food Kurt served him. "This is good. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"I can't thank you enough for letting me come here. I just couldn't stay in Lima. I left your parents a letter on my desk because I couldn't bring myself to tell them in person that I had failed my exams again. I just can't take having Carole look at me with pity in her eyes. They've done so much for me and I can't even manage to pass some stupid tests."

"Hey, quit getting down on yourself. That was the point in this move. To get you in a new school where people will actually help you. When you told me that McKinley had a dyslexia specialist that was helping Ryder, I just wanted to scream. Why didn't anyone ever tell you that such a person existed? As much as I think Miss Pillsbury is a nice person, I think she needs more training or something. She's not doing her job."

Sam took his plate over to the sink and washed and dried it and handed it to Kurt to be put away, paying attention to where he put it so he'd know where it went.

"Yeah, it took everything in me to play nice this morning when I went to her office to thank her for all of her help. Help I wouldn't have needed if she had done her job in the first place. Where's Rachel?"

"Oh, she's staying at Brody's for the weekend. It will just be the two of us until Monday after classes."

"Okay. That will make this a lot easier."

"Make what easier?"

"Can we go sit down and talk?"

"Sure."

Kurt and Sam went and sat in the living room. Sam put his elbows on his knees and starred at his hands. "I need to ask you something."

"You know you can ask me anything. We've been friends for a long time."

"Are you over Blaine?"

"I wasn't expecting that, but yes, I am. I've spent a lot of time thinking recently. Going back to the beginning of our history together, I realize that I had this crush on him that I should have let go of the day he announced 'The Warbler GAP Attack' in rehearsal near Valentine's Day my junior year. I was just so lonely and honestly he kept leading me on. He was so flirty. I thought for sure he liked me, but that was the day I should have realized that he was more interested in being the center of attention than anything else."

"I never liked how he pushed himself into the spotlight. He took Tony from you. I know I wasn't at school then, but I heard about it. I overheard about the pact he made with Rachel too. Finn was joking about it with Puck one day."

"What pact?"

"Um. The one they made as Tony and Maria. That's the only one I know about."

"Explain, please."

"How about you ask Rachel when she comes back Monday. I don't want to mislead you or get the details wrong."

"Alright, but tell me the general concept of this pact."

"It was a pact to lose their virginities. I was deeply disturbed, but since I wasn't part of the conversation and it had obviously happened months before I overheard them, I didn't butt in."

"Oh, my God. Now, I understand."

"Understand what?"

"Never mind. Back to your question about whether I am over him. The answer is, yes, I am over him. I have no intention of ever taking him back, ever. He blamed me for his cheating. He actually told me that I wasn't there for him and he needed me. I initially accepted what he said and blamed myself. I became really depressed and believed that it was actually my fault. But eventually I realized that what he meant was he needed attention and I didn't give it to him. I didn't have enough time in my crazy, brand new, New York life to pay attention to him every time he called, like when he was calling me at WORK. I couldn't risk getting fired. I have to pay rent here. I took his calls a few times, but had to hang up quickly to do my JOB. My guess is that the new members of the New Directions weren't fawning all over him like he was the reincarnation of Freddie Mercury or the male version of Katy Perry."

"Not really. The dynamic is totally different now. The new members aren't the fawning types."

"He cheated on me after two weeks of being apart. Two weeks. I can't be with someone like that. I won't go back to that. I became someone else around him. It's taken a few months for me to see that, but I realize it now."

"There's something I need to tell you. And I need to do it up front. I've also spent a lot of time reflecting the last few months."

"You sound so serious. Are you sick or something?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just something that I've realized only recently. Something that you knew or at least suspected a long time ago."

"Go on."

"I've been thinking back through my relationships. Quinn was the first girl I had dated. Before I came to McKinley I had never dated anyone. She was pretty. She was popular. She was nice to me. It seemed like a good match. Plus, given her background, I knew that she was a safe choice. She wouldn't push me and I wouldn't push her. We could date without that pressure."

"Then she cheated on you with Finn."

"Yeah."

"Then you dated Santana."

"Definitely a strange move on my part, I know. But she approached me and she's outright scary to say 'no' to."

"Oh, I know. She got Dave to be a Bully Whip. I can imagine that turning down being her boyfriend would be a task that no mere mortal could take on."

"The strange thing about that is that I'm pretty sure that she chose me for the same reason I had chosen Quinn. I was cute and reasonably popular. I think she chose me as her first beard and she dropped me like a pan on fire the instant she came up with her Prom Queen and Bully Whips idea."

"I can see her doing that. Then, there was Mercedes."

"Again, another girl who had no interest in more than kissing and handholding."

"Are you asexual? Is that what you figured out from your past choices?"

"No. What I figured out is that I'm gay."

"So, I was right?"

"Yeah. I think I just always had this image that gay guys are like you. They're into fashion and they get along with girls really well. Just stupid stereotypes I guess. But to be fair, the only guys I ever knew that said they were gay were like that and you know that I have no problem with that. People are people to me. But until Karofsky was outed, I don't think I'd ever thought about jocks being gay."

"I get that. You grew up in the south. I imagine that a lot of the guys' guy type of gay guys just stayed in the closet. To be honest, if I could pass, I probably would have stayed in the closet until after high school. That vest you were wearing is the remnants of my efforts to play straight."

"Honestly, I liked you from the moment we met. But Finn warned me off, as you know. And you backed away from spending time with me where other people would know about it to protect me. And then not long afterwards, you met Blaine who was all loud and proud and out. And I was just glad to be your friend. You were really the kindest and most helpful person I had ever met. I think I misunderstood my own feelings. I liked you so much, but I thought those feelings must have been because of how much you were helping me and what a genuinely good person you were."

"I had a huge crush on you, but when you asked Quinn to be your partner when I backed out and then you started dating her, I doubted everything about myself. I really did think you were gay, but then you asked Quinn out. And you were also the nicest person I had ever met and the first guy that had ever been kind to me. You are still the only guy I know who hasn't done anything really awful to me. I wanted to be friends with you even after I thought you were straight."

"The last couple of months, I've really missed you. No one has smeared frosting on me anywhere. No one has watched sci fi movies with me. I just realized how much of a part of my life you were and how much I've missed that. And I realized that it's not just because you're a cool guy. It's because I genuinely like you. And I can live with it, if you don't feel the same about me anymore. But I just couldn't bring myself to move in here with you and not be honest. I'm not the kind of person who lies to people. It may have taken a while for me to figure myself out, but I want you to know that I have not been actively lying to you or hiding anything about myself from you."

"I believe you, Sam. I really do. When I was younger, I might not have because just like you, I only had my own life experience to base my beliefs on. When I was 14 or 15, maybe even 16, I would have struggled to believe that anyone didn't automatically realize that they were gay from the time they were old enough to realize the difference between boys and girls. But I've grown up since then and I realize that sometimes understanding ourselves comes slowly - that there are people who don't realize that they are gay until after they are married and have kids."

"So, you believe me?"

"Of course."

"I was so scared that you would think that I had been lying to you and that you'd be upset with me."

Kurt moved from the chair to the couch and sat next to Sam. "I'm not upset, Sam. I'm a bit frustrated, but not upset."

"Why frustrated?"

"Because if I had known for certain that you were gay, I would have never given Blaine a second look."

"Wait, what?"

"Didn't you hear the part earlier where I said I had a crush on you, but let it drop when you started dating Quinn?"

"Yeah, I heard the 'let it drop' part."

"Oh, well. By that I meant, I didn't act on it because I had already been down the road of crushing on a straight boy and that was something I wasn't going to repeat. I didn't mean that I stopped liking you that way. It just remained unrequited."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So..."

"So, now you're here and we're together again. You're going to start a new school and get the help you need. I've made an appointment for you Tuesday afternoon and we're going to go in and get the ball rolling. One of the interns in the photography department is going to photograph the artwork you've brought with you after the appointment and we're going to get your portfolio ready to send in to colleges here in the New York area."

"You are awesome, you know."

"Well, the feeling is mutual. Come on. Let's get your stuff unpacked. I got a second clothes rack today. I just haven't gotten it assembled yet. So, let's go work on that. I also got some hangers."

Kurt stood up and grabbed Sam's hands and pulled him up. Once Sam was standing up, Kurt put his arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "I'm so glad you're here."

"Me too," Sam said pulling Kurt in tight and hugging him back.

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An hour later, they had hung up all of Sam's clothes and filled the two dresser drawers Kurt had emptied for him. All that was left was the tote with the artwork in it. Sam stacked it inside the two empty containers. Kurt moved the tote behind the mirror in the corner of his room and put the two lids against the wall under his desk.

Sam was looking around Kurt's and now his room. "Hey, Kurt?"

"Yeah?" Kurt looked Sam's direction.

"The first thing I'd like to do tomorrow is find the closest building supply store."

Kurt looked at him questioningly.

"I'm putting a back on this bookcase. And a non-permanent wall where those curtains are. I just don't think I can sleep in here if just anyone can look at me when I'm asleep."

"I've just gotten used to Rachel and she's not really the peeping Tom type, but you're right. Once she starts to invite people over, I can see your point. We'll ask around tomorrow."

"No one's going to be here but us for a few days, so that should give us time to get it fixed up before she comes back."

"It's kind of late for me to take you out anywhere tonight, but how about a stay home first date?"

"Date?"

"Unless I misunderstood? Or you misunderstood. I'll be very clear this time. Sam Evans, I thought you were completely adorable the day you walked into the Glee room. I wanted to sing with you so badly. I was seriously hoping you were gay. I was totally crushing on you. Then, you turned out to be the nicest guy I had ever met and we became good friends. And a little over an hour ago, I'm pretty sure you said that you liked me. So, a date. That's what two people who like each other do, is it not?"

"It is. But I can't wine and dine you. You're the one who's taken me in. I will totally get a job and pay half of your half of the rent and for my own food. I'm not a mooch."

"I know you aren't. And I don't need wined and dined. Romance can be completely free. So, a stay home first date, hopefully the first of many?"

"I'd love to."

"Excellent. Let's get change into pajamas and it will be a pajama movie date."

"How's that different than all of the other times we've watched movies together in our pajamas?"

"You'll see," Kurt answered, as he winked and walked to the dresser to get his pajamas out. "You can shower first or second, your choice."

"You go first."

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By the time Sam came back from the shower, Kurt had stacked some books on the bench at the end of his bed and put the laptop on the top of the stack. He pulled the comforter so that the extra length was at the top and he piled the pillows on the end of the bed. Sam lay down and looked through the Netflix choices. He clicked on one.

" _Galaxy Quest_? We've seen that before."

"Exactly. That way I can pay attention to the parts of the evening that are different from the previous times we've watched movies together in our pajamas without missing what's going on in the movie."

"I see. Well, press play and I'm going to turn off the light."

Kurt climbed into the bed and lay down next to Sam - quite a bit closer than he had ever dared to before. He fluffed his pillow up, propped himself up on his elbows, put his chin on the pillow and used his left hand to keep the pillow in place. He extended his right hand out to Sam, who shyly reached out and took it.

A few minutes later, Kurt stretched and pushed up onto his knees and pressed pause. "This is not going to work for the whole movie. My neck is going to be killing me. I have another idea. Since Rachel's not here, she'll never know. Come help me move the coffee table in here." He turned the light back on.

Sam got up and helped Kurt carry the coffee table in. Kurt picked up the laptop and put it on the bed and put the books back away. Next, he picked up the bench and put it on top of the coffee table.

"End of the bed or next to the bed?" Kurt asked.

"Let's try next to the bed since the screen is kind of small."

They repositioned the comforter and pillows again. Kurt piled one of his throw pillows on top of his pillow and waited for Sam to lie down and get comfortable. He turned the light back off and climbed in and lay down behind Sam so that Sam was the little spoon.

"Can you see the screen?"

"Yes. I put an extra pillow so my head's up a little higher than yours."

Sam restarted the movie.

"If you scoot back a little, we can snuggle."

Sam wriggled back a bit. Kurt put his left hand up on Sam's bicep and lightly ran his hand up and down his upper arm. Sam reached out and pressed pause and crossed his right arm over his chest and caught Kurt's hand and grabbed it.

"Am I bothering you? I can stop."

"See, that's the thing. I don't want you to stop." He rolled over to face Kurt. Kurt pulled the extra pillow out and put it behind him on the bed.

"What then?"

"Well, truthfully, I've been hoping for several weeks that once I saw you I could kiss you."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Sam scooted closer to Kurt, who reached out and put his hand on Sam's neck and ran his fingers through Sam's hair. Sam scooted even closer and gently kissed Kurt and pulled back.

"Sam?" Kurt opened his to see Sam looking, well he wasn't sure what that look was. "Are you okay?"

"Wow. I can definitely say that I have been kissing the wrong people if that's how kissing feels."

Kurt smiled, "Is that so?" He scooted forward a bit and this time he initiated the kiss, which was a little longer than the first one, but still quite short. Sam pulled back again.

Kurt lay flat on his back. "Do you want to go sit on the couch and talk? Is this too much too fast?"

"No, it's just so overwhelmingly good and right. I just - wow."

"Sam, I know. I've kissed a girl. It was nice. And even arousing in a way. I mean she was lying on me providing her body weight as friction in places, you know?"

Sam laughed, "Yeah. I just thought that was…" he stopped.

"I get it."

"But I was really, really wrong. One little kiss and I'm way more... well..." Sam was blushing, even though Kurt couldn't see it, he could tell that Sam was feeling quite awkward.

"I understand. If it's any help, I'm having the same reaction."

Sam moved forward again and kissed Kurt, who wrapped his hand back around Sam's neck. This kiss was a little longer, but still completely chaste.

"I'm going to need a cold shower."

"I'm not a girl. I'm not bothered by your body's reaction. Actually, it's really complimentary. Knowing that you're that turned on is really hot." He rose up and whispered in Sam's ear, "I could help you out or if you're not ready for that, there's always the bathroom." Kurt kissed Sam's ear, gently using the tip of his tongue here and there. Sam started moaning. Kurt continued kissing down Sam's jaw until he reached his mouth, where he let Sam take the lead, not wanting to push Sam.

Sam kissed him, this time with more confidence. He wrapped his arm around Kurt's torso and let himself relax and enjoy himself like he never had before. Kissing had never been like this.

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Sam awoke the next morning in Kurt's arms. The first thing that came to his mind was that Blaine had to be the stupidest person on the face of the earth to give this up because this was the best thing Sam had ever experienced and he would do everything in his power to keep it.

"Good morning, Sam," Kurt said, as he ran his thumb down Sam's cheek.

"You were already awake?"

"Just waiting for you to wake up. I wanted to let you sleep. You had a long drive yesterday and an emotional evening. I figured you really needed the sleep, since you're normally awake before now."

"What time is it?"

"10:03."

"Oh, wow. I can't even remember the last time I slept that late. Are you ready to find a hardware store?"

"Actually, hold that thought. I'm going to run downstairs for a minute. I'll be right back up." Kurt put some clothes on quickly and left. He came back about 10 minutes later. Sam was dressed and looking through the kitchen cabinets.

"Come with me. I want to show you something." Sam followed him downstairs.

They were met by a man, about 60 years old, shorter than both of them with gray hair and a nearly white scruffy beard. He unlocked the door. Kurt and Sam followed him into the room.

The man spoke, "So, this is the space. It's not much, but it has a bathroom and the small kitchen area. The last tenant left behind the appliances. Have a look around if you want."

Kurt and Sam went and looked in the bathroom. "It's not much different than the one in the loft," Kurt said. "A little smaller." They came back out.

"Would we be allowed to install a counter top in here?" Kurt asked.

"As long as it's freestanding and you don't nail or screw anything to the floor."

"And how much is it?"

"$800."

"Can you give me a couple of hours? Rachel's not home and I have to get in touch with her before I can give you an answer."

"Yeah, sure. I don't have anyone coming to see it until tomorrow afternoon. If you want it, let me know by today at 4:00, so I can tell the guy not to bother coming out."

"Thanks."

Kurt looked around one last time. It was on the corner of the building so the room had three windows, one large, two smaller. He walked off the space and made a mental note of the size. He and Sam left and went back upstairs.

"What do you think?"

"Just the two of us?"

"Yeah, just the two of us. You already know we can live together and get along. We did it for over 10 months before I moved here. I mean I know we weren't sharing a room, but still. I think it will be easier than us living here with Rachel. She was talking about asking Brody to move in anyway. She can split the rent with him and they can still find someone else to live with them if they want. $800 is less than I'm paying now. So, even if it's a few weeks before you find a job, we'll be fine."

Sam sat thinking and finally nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that. Go ahead and call Rachel."

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"Well, that was a tough sell, but Brody can afford half the rent and she was going to ask him anyway. We negotiated custody of the stuff we've bought since September. They're going to come by in an hour so we can re-sign paperwork down at the Super's apartment."

"So, what did you get in the negotiations?"

"Her silence first and foremost. And $1000 from Rachel, $450 from Brody for his half of half of December's rent, and the stuff in my room and a couple of miscellaneous items. My portion of the deposit on the loft will be applied to the new one, which leaves us money to fix up and furnish the new place."

"Well, we can probably get a couch and some other things. Plus, we won't have to spend the money to create more privacy or deal with any other roommates."

"Definitely a positive. I mean I love Rachel, most of the time anyway, but she's been showing the worst side of herself since she won the Winter Showcase last Friday night."

"I bet. She's pretty insufferable sometimes. What have you decided to do? I know you said you got your acceptance letter. Don't you have to say yes or no soon?"

"I have another week or so. Classes don't start again until the second week in January."

"I thought that NYADA is what you really wanted."

"I did too. It's just that after Madame Tibideaux rejected my second application, I went out and toured other local schools with musical theater programs. And I've been doing a lot of thinking."

"What about?"

"Money, the value of an education, things like that. I also snuck around NYADA listening to classes being taught, watching the students interact, reading the NYADA gossip online, and of course listening to Rachel talk. I also talked to some of the students I met when I visited some of the other schools. There was such a marked difference."

"Different in what way? Like the ones at NYADA are more talented?"

"Most of the students I saw at NYADA are like Rachel or they are kiss-ups to the students like Rachel. She has her own little group of sycophants already, which isn't surprising since she seems to be Madame Tibideaux's favorite. I mean Rachel blew her audition, then practically stalked her, and she got in. I'm not sure that I'm ready to go in debt to experience high school all over again."

Sam was listening carefully. "How was that different than what you saw other places?"

"I didn't see such diva-ish behavior. I saw students collaborating in the hallways, looking excited to be there? It's hard to explain. NYADA is like a bunch of people like Rachel and Blaine and Santana and Mercedes, even Puck in a way. All people who are loud and bold and the ones that are not on the top of the heap kiss up to the ones that are. I mentioned a poster I saw to Rachel advertising a show choir. Her response was very disheartening - that the show choir is lower than low and just the whole idea that there's such an engrained hierarchy - I didn't like it."

"So, you're thinking of not going?"

"Honestly, yes. Madame Tibideaux seemed to enjoy putting me on the spot to prove myself when I had not prepared anything. I understand that as a performer, I could be called upon to perform in situations that I wasn't expecting. But it's surely unlikely that I would ever be an audience member called out to get up on stage and be in a show. I'm not sure what she was trying to prove, but I'm not sure that I want to spend 4 years with her as the head of the department I'm in. Is she going to feel the need to potentially publicly humiliate me again? I mean Rachel's dance teacher has been nothing but awful to her all semester. It's hard to deal with Rachel. I'm well aware of that, but Sue Sylvester techniques of public shaming aren't really decent teaching methods."

"That bad?"

"Definitely."

"So what have you found when looking at other schools?"

"That there are places I could go and pay 1/5th the cost and be in classes with teachers who seem to enjoy teaching. The students like their classes. I'm sure there are rivalries everywhere. But maybe walking in and being on equal footing with everyone would be better than walking in and being Rachel's best gay, always a tier lower than her. High school was a miserable place. I don't want to repeat that, while paying a fortune to be there. I applied to a few other schools for next fall. If I live here that long on my own, I can pay in-state tuition. When you graduate from a New York high school, you will be able to pay in-state tuition as well. If you apply where I did, I bet it wouldn't cost you anything to attend because with your family's financial situation, you'll be eligible for grants. The only financial aid I'm eligible for is loans."

"I thought your dad was going to help you."

"He is, but he can't cover the cost of the tuition at NYADA. Premier Broadway training academy means expensive price tag. I'm leaning 90% toward deferring my admission to NYADA until the fall and giving myself more time to figure out what I really want. I'll go visit more classes at NYADA and the other places I applied and get a feel for what's really right for me."

"Good plan. Speaking of plans - the apartment? When can we move into it?"

"Let's go find out."

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When they came back from talking to the Super, Sam was looking at their bed. "I know that the pallets are functional at keeping the bed off the floor, but they keep us from being able to put stuff under the bed. So, let's build a frame and a bookcase. I don't have the expertise to build a dresser, so let's look for one of those. But we can definitely build the other two pretty cheap."

"I'm game if you are, but I say let's build the stuff first and then move things. Building stuff will be messy and it would be easier to do it in an empty room anyway."

"Earlier, you mentioned that first and foremost you had acquired Rachel's silence. What did that mean?"

"It meant her secret for mine. I will not tell any of our mutual acquaintances or friends that she is living with Brody and she will not tell anyone that you are here living with me."

"Seems like a fair trade to me."

Kurt nodded. He grabbed Sam's hand and stepped close enough to give him a quick kiss.

"Let's get downstairs and sign. Rachel and Brody should be here any minute."

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"Well, that's done. Let's go play handyman. We have to give Brody my key on Monday evening when they get back with Brody's stuff, so we've got two days to turn the place into our new home."

"Alrighty then, what tools do you already have?" Kurt showed him his toolbox. "Let's go then."

They had found a small hardware store within walking distance that had a few building supplies, but they didn't need a lot of expensive fancy stuff, so it was just fine. They looked around and started picking out what they needed and the employee helping them took the stuff up front for them. A saw, screws, 1x10s, 2x4s, 1x1s, some hinges, a small sander, a heavy duty extension cord, two paint brushes and a gallon of low VOC satin almost black paint. They put everything they could in their backpacks. The employee helped them stack the wood and tie it together, creating some carrying handles with the twine wrapped with a plastic bag.

They made it back to the apartment and left all of the supplies. They went back up and carefully measured the box springs and took a few of the pallets downstairs to use to make it easier to saw the boards. They made a second trip back with the lamps from Kurt's room so they'd be able to see after it got dark. A few hours later, they had a functional bed frame that was about 18 inches off the floor, giving them room to put storage containers under the bed.

"Let's put one coat of paint on it and then go get some lunch while it dries," Sam suggested.

"Good idea."

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"So, Mister Designer, how are we putting the furniture in here? We need to know that before we cut these 1x10s to make the bookcase. Is it a wide short bookcase or a tall narrow bookcase or more square?"

"I hadn't thought about it actually." Kurt stood and surveyed the room. "I figured the far end of the room would be the bedroom area. We're building a screen with the 1x1s and the hinges. Let's see if the bed frame is dry enough to move."

It was and they placed it a couple of different ways, leaving it in their favorite position.

"Okay. Bed there. Screen here. When we get a dining table, we can put it against the front wall. We'll put the couch with the screen behind it facing this way, toward the front wall?"

"Sounds reasonable to me. So, the bookcase next to the two windows at the end by the front wall, then?"

"Good idea. And if we ever get a TV, it will just have to sit against the wall on the dining table."

They cut the boards and painted them. While they dried, they put a second coat on the bed frame.

"So, where can we find a dresser?"

"Let's check Craiglist first. If we don't see anything, we'll go look at some secondhand shops."

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"These two dressers are just so ugly, it's sad," Kurt said as they carried the first one upstairs.

"Ah, but that's the beauty of paint and a sander. I'll take the drawers out on the fire escape and sand that disgusting whatever it was supposed to be off the drawers and we'll repaint them and they'll be perfect."

"I know, but who ever thought that painting drawer fronts with an alternating plaid print and whatever that's supposed to be... flowers? - was clearly high at the time," Kurt laughed.

They went back down to Sam's car and brought the second dresser up.

"Well, for $25 a piece and solid wood, we got a bargain. Plus when we're done with them, they'll look great and they double as bedside tables. Why don't you start painting the dressers and I'll take the drawers out on the fire escape and remove this mess?"

"Got it."

When Sam finished sanding the drawers, he went inside and put a final coat of paint on the boards for the bookcase, while Kurt started working on the drawer fronts.

"I'm done for the night," Kurt said. "Lets go up and shower and eat something and sleep. We'll get up early and get started again. We'll do the last coat of paint on the dressers and assemble the bookcase first. Then we'll clean and look for a table and couch. Maybe we can get everything moved too. I know it's a lot for one day, but I work Monday. We can go back out shopping Monday afternoon when I get off for kitchen stuff. We don't have anywhere to put anything yet anyway."

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"I'll bring the sander back, then drop the extension cord out the window so you can sand the table outside before we bring it upstairs," Kurt said as he headed into the building.

After he did that, Kurt went upstairs and brought down the two leather upholstered flea market chairs he had negotiated for with Rachel and put them in the apartment so they'd have somewhere to sit. He went back up and searched through the kitchen to pull out the few things he had wanted.

He took out his phone and started a list of things they still needed. Storage boxes for under the bed, some sort of storage for the bathroom, kitchen items like a coffee pot, dishes, and pots and pans. They would definitely need to hit the secondhand stores.

Sam texted that he had finished the table. Kurt went down and helped him carry it up into the apartment. He wiped the top down with a dry rag and they started painting it.

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By Sunday night, they had moved all of their stuff into the new place and they were dog dead tired. So tired that Kurt ordered a pizza for dinner and they ate it, showered, and went straight to bed.

The next morning, Sam went with Kurt to the Vogue office so he could see where Kurt worked and he was going to just hang out in a coffee shop somewhere until Kurt got off at lunch.

They stopped at the front desk to get a visitor's pass for Sam. They rode the elevator up and dropped by Isabelle's office so he could introduce them.

"Knock, knock," Kurt said tapping on the open door to Isabelle's office. He stepped in and could see she was on the phone looking distressed, then all of a sudden not so distressed. She put her hand over the phone, indicating that Kurt should say what he came to say.

"Isabelle, this is Sam, he just moved here from Ohio. He's my new roommate."

"Nice to meet you, Sam. Are you 18 or older? Are you free this morning?"

"Yes and yes?" Sam answered, unsure why he was being asked.

"Perfect." She uncovered the phone and said, "Problem solved. I'll be there in 10. Okay, 5." She hung up.

She approached Sam. "How would you like to make $500 this morning?"

"I'm in."

"Right this way. Sam and I will leave you to your work, Kurt. We'll see you at lunch."

Kurt looked confused, but went to his office to do his job.

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"Sam, you're going to be modeling a swimsuit today. One of models didn't show up and you look like a perfect replacement saving me the cost of rescheduling everyone. So, we're going to the hair and make up department. There's a shower in the back. Shower and put on one of the robes hanging outside the shower and then have a seat over there and Marco will cut and style your hair. When he's done, you'll be brought to get dressed and have your make up done. This all needs to happen in the next 20 minutes. Can you do that?"

"You got it."

"Perfect."

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Twenty minutes later, Sam was standing around with 5 other models, 2 guys and 3 girls, being told where to stand, where to look, what expression to make and following everything he was told to do. Stand in sand and hold a surfboard? No problem. Sit in the sand and drink colored water. No problem. Three hours later, he had been posed more ways than he had ever thought possible, but it wasn't really hard, just boring having to stay in position.

Afterward, he was allowed to return to the room he started in. He showered again and put his own clothes back on. He even got to keep the swim trunks. He was taken back to Kurt's office afterward.

"Nice hair cut."

"Thanks, it was free. And I get the swim trunks and $500. That will cover my half of the rent for next month and some money left over for groceries while I'm looking for a job." Sam felt much more relaxed now that he'd be able to pay his half of the expenses until he found a job.

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"Okay, Dad. That's fine. I was going to tell you that I'm staying here anyway. I have expenses that I need to cover and a plane ticket is a little out of budget range right now. I'll save up again and I'll try to come in a couple of months."

"I know, I know. But this was going to happen eventually. You know that Carole's family doesn't like me. And eventually, you were going to have to spend a holiday with them. I'm fine really."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye. Love you too."

Kurt and Sam had continued to move through the crowded sidewalks while Kurt was on the phone.

"So, Dad, Carole, and Finn are going to Carole's relatives in Zanesville, where I am persona non grata, which is fine. I can't change people's minds and I'd rather be here than there any day. You didn't get a chance to look for any couches since you were busy hanging out by the ocean all morning, did you?" Kurt teased.

"Yeah, all of the icky parts and none of the nice parts. At least I got to shower and get the sand off. But you're right. I didn't get a chance to look. But I did make a whole month's rent in one morning. So, there's that."

"It was perfect. We can stop by the bank and you can deposit your check. Then, we'll go home and eat and check Craigslist for potential pieces."

Kurt took Sam's hand and intertwined their fingers and took off toward the subway.

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"So tomorrow afternoon, I set up an appointment for you at the new school to get you enrolled," Kurt said as they were making lunch.

"I brought my official transcript, so that's good to go."

"Good. It's looking good in here. We need to get some of those hooks we can put on the walls so we can hang your paintings up. It will look so much nicer then. And we can go out buy a couple of nice sheets to use for the fabric on the room divider. I know it's just going to be us most of the time, but I still like the idea of our bedroom being a separate space."

"Me too. We should buy an extra sheet to use as a curtain over the window in our room. I don't like people being able to see in. The two smaller windows in the living area are okay uncovered, at least I think so since they face a windowless wall on the other side of the alley."

"So, anything good on Cragslist today?" Kurt asked as Sam was scrolling through listings.

"Not yet."

"We can be patient about the couch. Switch to looking for a couple of lower kitchen cabinets. We can buy a countertop if we have to, but we need somewhere to put the kitchen stuff we're going to need to get. Eating sandwiches on paper towels and ordering pizzas or Chinese isn't a long-term solution."

"There's a couple of listings." Sam handed Kurt his phone. "I'm not sure if those are close enough to make it worth the drive."

"This one's not too far, but the pictures are terrible. I'll see if we can get better photos before we drive out there." He clicked on the reply linked and asked.

"I didn't ask before, but are your parents okay with this?"

"I'm 18. I wasn't going to graduate. They said I could go back to Kentucky and finish there, but that's a dead end for me. I turned them down. They know I was old enough to move on at the end of last school year. They didn't fight me on it. They have my cell number, so they can call whenever they want. They're glad that I'm going to finish school here, rather than just drop out."

"That's good, but that wasn't exactly the 'this' I was referring to. I figured you had told them about switching schools. Do they know that we're living together, not just as friends?"

"Yes. I told them last night when you were in the shower."

"Really?" Kurt leaned over and kissed him gently. "You could live your whole life with no one knowing. That's a lot harder to be willing to give up. I know the kinds of things that are said about guys like you. It's inevitable if you walk around here openly holding my hand and stuff."

"Kurt, look at me. I don't care about that. I really don't. And I want to be with you. I know people will say things. People say things about all sorts of stuff. I mean think what Santana did within five minutes of me getting back to McKinley last fall. Insult fest. People like Santana are everywhere. They bring other people down to try to push themselves up. Other people are just mean. I've probably heard the things you're thinking of. I won't put up with people insulting you. That I can guarantee. I will not assault them. I am not a child and I can control my reactions, but I won't just sit by and let people attack you."

"That would be a welcome change," Kurt held back tears, thinking of Sebastian's insults and how Blaine never defended him.

"Kurt?" Sam reached over and took Kurt's hand.

"Sebastian wasn't really any worse than anyone else who had called me names. I don't hate him or anything. He apologized sincerely, but it sure would have been nice if I hadn't spent months being insulted and ... I'll stop. That's all in the past. We're here together now. That's the important part. I know we missed the timing the first time around, but we've gotten a second chance and I don't want to spend any of it rehashing the choices we made in between that didn't make either of us happy. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Rest assured, I won't put up with stuff like that."

"Thank you." Kurt leaned toward him and they kissed again.

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"Well, shall we wash them and leave them this color or do you want to paint them too?" Sam asked.

"Well, they actually match the leather on the chairs, so I guess we could just clean them and leave them be. It would be less work."

"Then, scrub a dub, dub. And avocado green they shall remain."

"I think we're going to have to actually buy a new countertop. We'll have to look for a place to order one that will deliver. There's no way we can fit one in your car or carry one on the subway."

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Later that night, they were both in bed, lights off, ready to go to sleep.

"There's been a lot of change for you really quickly. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's a lot different. It's noisy here. I feel like I'm lost all the time. I'm not quite as bad as Crocodile Dundee, but close sometimes."

Kurt laughed. "You'll get used to it. The first few weeks I was here were crazy. New apartment, new roommate, new job, new city, new everything. But it will be a little easier for you because I'm here. You're not alone. You can do this. The school's not far away and maybe you'll like it. If not, maybe it will at least be tolerable for 5 months." He reached out for Sam's hand and squeezed it. "Come over here." Kurt raised his arm so Sam could lay his head on Kurt's chest. "We'll figure it out. I'll be here for you."

Kurt tipped Sam's chin up and kissed him gently. Sam kissed him back. "I know."


	2. Chapter 2

Sam set up his easel and looked through his artwork while Kurt was at work the next morning. He liked some of his pieces, but he had no idea if they would be good enough for him to get into an art school. He put the box of paintings in the living area where he had set up the easel. His drawings were still in the tube, where he'd leave them until it was actually time to photograph them.

Sam had lunch ready for Kurt when he came home. Kurt walked in and he was greeted by Sam, who was pretending to be his butler. He removed his coat, and hung it up neatly. He pulled Kurt's chair out, then brought Kurt's lunch out on a paper towel, but it acted as it if were fine china. He brought his lunch out afterwards and sat down next to Kurt. Kurt leaned toward him and put his head on his shoulder.

"Sometimes, you're crazy, but it's the best perfect kind of crazy. He kissed him on the cheek. Thank you for lunch. We'll head over to the school as soon as we finish. Rebecca's meeting us here at 3:30 to photograph your artwork. We'll have to do the cropping and file naming ourselves. She's just going to take the photos, burn them to a DVD, and leave the rest up to us. She's doing it in exchange for me altering something of hers about a month ago. So, free photography."

"Thank you."

"Of course."

They finished eating. Sam grabbed his backpack where he had put the folder with all of his documents. They walked the four blocks to the school.

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The wait to see the counselor was a short one.

"Do you want me to come in with you or just wait?"

"Come with me."

"Okay."

Kurt and Sam both stood when Sam's name was called.

"Please have a seat, gentlemen. I'm Mrs. Stevenson. Which one of you is Sam?"

"That would be me, ma'am." Sam extended his hand to shake hers.

"I'm Kurt Hummel." He also reached to shake Mrs. Stevenson's hand.

"Ah, yes. You're the one that made the appointment."

Kurt nodded.

"As I told Mr. Hummel on the phone, our school is a bit different than most. We specialize in helping struggling students finish school. Some of the students here are older than you Sam, so don't feel like you will be the only person your age. Many of the students here have failed a grade or two or at some point dropped out of school only to enroll here to get a second chance at finishing when they realized that they really needed a diploma to get a job."

"Okay," Sam said.

"May I see your transcript?"

Sam pulled it out and gave it to her. She pulled out a printed sheet with a chart on it and started carefully marking boxes with information.

"Well, Sam, I must say that you are probably the only student that has ever come here to enroll that has no Fs and actually has all of the credits that you need to graduate. Why is it that you are looking to enroll here?"

"Back in Ohio, which is the last place I went to school, there are state tests that have to be passed in order to graduate. I didn't pass them my junior year. I moved out of state and wasn't in Ohio for the summer retakes. I was still in the other state when the exams were given my senior year - last year. This fall I took them again and I didn't pass. Kurt looked at my test and my scores and said that based on the number of questions I answered, that my accuracy was around 75% on all of the tests, but the problem is that I'm dyslexic and it takes me too long to read the questions and so I only end up answering about half of the questions and that leaves me with a score too low to pass."

"I see. And with a dyslexia diagnosis, why weren't you given extra time on these tests or special help to prepare for them better?"

Kurt spoke up. "That's what we're not sure about Mrs. Stevens. Our guidance counselor knew about his scores, yet no one did anything to help him. I didn't even know the school had someone who was supposed to help him. We don't really even know what might help."

"I found out late this fall when one of the new transfer students was talking about seeing the dyslexia specialist at the school. I couldn't believe such a person existed and no one had told me about it. Maybe because I work really hard and Kurt tutored me last year and the year before - because I still got Bs and some Cs and As in art that my overall GPA wasn't that low? I'm not sure. But anyway, since I didn't pass those tests, I wouldn't be eligible to graduate again this year and staying there made no sense. Kurt found your school by researching this area and he happens to live in this neighborhood. So, I've moved in with him and I want to graduate and go to college and study art."

Kurt added, "Someone I know is coming to photograph his art work this afternoon so that he can have files ready for portfolio submissions. We wanted to see if he can come in and get help with his college applications after his enrollment is official this afternoon."

"Of course. Our classes are still finishing up this semester, so you can make an appointment and come in during this week sometime. I know that most of the applications are due before second semester starts on January 7th. Other than getting help with your applications, I won't expect you to attend classes until the second semester starts since you have already finished your first semester classes. Did you make a copy of this transcript for yourself?"

"No, ma'am."

"I will do that as well as copy the chart you saw me filling in. I'll need your birth certificate, social security card, and your driver's license."

"Well, I haven't changed my license yet. I'll go do that today if I can - tomorrow morning if I can't do it today. And I'll bring it by for you to copy, but here are the other two." Sam handed her the cards.

"I'll be right back."

Kurt and Sam waited silently for her to return. She handed Sam his cards back. "I need you to fill out these forms for me." She handed Sam a clipboard and a pen.

Kurt took it from him and started filling it out. She continued talking to Sam since Kurt was doing it for him.

"New York has exams similar to the ones you were taking in Ohio, but I'm going to set you up to get an official diagnosis and extended time. I am also going to assign you to the resource room for two periods a day. The teachers in the resource room will focus on the specific skills you need to do well on the tests. The rest of your classes you can choose. I'd suggest Art History since it doesn't seem to be something your last school offered and it will give the resource teacher some context to use to help you improve your reading and writing skills. The other three classes will be your choice." She handed him list of course options.

Sam looked through it. "Guitar, Painting and Sculpture/Pottery."

"Do you play guitar?"

"Yes."

"Can your read music?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, Guitar 2. I'll place you in the highest level of the other two courses, based on the fact that you are applying to art schools."

Kurt handed the paperwork back to Mrs. Stevenson, who looked through it.

"I'll need you to make an appointment to get health insurance and, as you mentioned, you'll need to change your driver's license." She pulled a stack of papers off the shelf behind her and put them in a folder. "Here's all of the information about our school. Please read it or have Kurt read it to you. Ignorance of the rules is not a defense for breaking them. We do not require uniforms, but we do have a dress code, which is covered in the papers in the folder. The information on where to apply for health insurance is in there as well." She handed him the folder. "Do you have any questions?"

"Only who to make an appointment with to get help with my applications."

"Follow me. I'll take you down to the resource center and someone there will get it set up for you."

Sam and Kurt stood up and followed her. Before she left, they both thanked her. They waited to speak the to the right person, made the appointments, took the sheet offered about what information would be needed for the appointment. Sam put in the school folder and put it back in his backpack.

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On the walk back home, Kurt took Sam's hand. "So, what did you think?"

"Well, I'm not thrilled that I still have to take more of those standardized tests, but this school's focus is on helping students who haven't otherwise succeeded actually succeed. So, I just have to have faith that they know what they're doing."

"I think you can do it, Sam. I believe in you."

"You always have." Sam smiled.

They had only been home for a few minutes when Rebecca showed up to take the photos.

"Please come in. I'll take your coat," Kurt said. He laid it neatly over the back of a chair. "Just move the easel wherever is best and we'll help put each piece up on the easel so the process will go quickly."

They started with the paintings. An hour later, she had photographed everything. Kurt put a blank DVD in his laptop and Rebecca connected her camera to the computer and transferred all of the photos to the DVD.

"Thank you, Rebecca," Kurt said.

"I really appreciate you doing this," Sam said in agreement.

"You're both welcome. Your artwork is really good. I hope you get into the school you want to go to, Sam."

"Me too. Thanks again."

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"Well, what do you think?" Kurt asked Sam as they stood looking at a countertop that a customer had ordered, and then didn't pick up. "It's a really good deal, but we'd have to rent their truck to be able to buy it."

"I think we should do it. We can install it and use the kitchen a week sooner than if we order one ourselves and this one's fine. $20 for the truck seems reasonable to me since this one is half price."

"I agree. You go find someone to take it up front, and I'll go up and start the paperwork to rent the truck for an hour."

Two hours later, they had a functional countertop in their kitchen, and the deep burgundy color with the gray and green flecks in it actually looked better than they thought it would. They washed it down after installing it. They could finally prep a decent meal now that they had somewhere to put stuff besides on the stove.

Kurt pulled out vegetables from the fridge. He and Sam stood on opposite sides of the counter and cut them up. They talked while they cooked.

"So, tomorrow I have to work all day. I usually work 30-40 hours a week, but I specifically asked for yesterday afternoon and this afternoon off so we could get you settled in. Moving into a different apartment wasn't actually on my planning schedule, so you'll need to go to the license branch tomorrow and get your driver's license changed by yourself. You'll have to have your copy of the lease with you in order to prove that you live here. You should just have to show them that, pay like $20, and turn over your Ohio license in exchange for a New York license. No test required. The lines can be ridiculous though. So, go in the morning."

"Got it."

They talked about what Kurt was doing at work and other things while they finished cooking and eating. They worked their "must have" shopping list while they ate.

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Through a discussion they were having about books and movies, while they hung Sam's paintings up around the apartment after dinner, Kurt learned that Sam had never actually read _The Hobbit_ or the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy. He let it drop because they were busy deciding where to hang each painting.

After they finished, Kurt picked up the book he had been reading and Sam set up and started working on a new painting. After about an hour, Kurt put his book in his lap and just thought for a while. He considered reading the books out loud to Sam, but he knew that would eventually make him hoarse. Then an idea came to him. He got up and put his book back on the shelf. He walked up behind Sam and admired his work. When Sam had put his paintbrush in the water, he wrapped his arms around Sam's waist and kissed him on the back of the neck. Sam shivered a bit.

"I have an idea for tonight, but we need to shower early so I can tell you about it."

"Okay. You shower first and I'll put this stuff away and then I'll go." Sam had put all of his paints away and cleaned his brushes by the time Kurt came out of the bathroom.

Kurt downloaded the audiobook of _The Hobbit_ , docked his iPod in the speaker, turned off all of the lights in the apartment and pulled the covers back and waited for Sam.

"Why are all of the lights off?"

"Just come get in bed."

Sam walked slowly, even though there was nothing blocking his path. He lay down in the bed.

"I thought about reading this to you, but I figured I'd make myself hoarse, so I downloaded the audio instead."

Kurt pressed play on the iPod. Sam wasn't certain what to expect. Kurt snuggled up close to Sam.

"This is nice. I like it, but come closer." Sam lifted his arm and Kurt lay on his side half flopped over onto Sam's chest and Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt. "That's much better."

They listened for about an hour and stopped it at the end of a chapter.

"So what do you think? We could listen to part of it every night until we finish it and then move on to the other books?"

"I like the idea. Books have always been this intriguing mystery. I love stories and I love fantasy, but decoding the words always made the really good stories out of my reach for enjoyment because it was so much work to figure out what they said. Plus, other people read in their free time, which I didn't have much of since it always took me so much longer to get through my school reading. But this makes the stories come to life like they do for everyone who can read easily. And getting to snuggle up with you makes it even better."

"Well, then we'll add listening to a book to our evening itinerary. Followed by more snuggling and kissing."

"Perfect."

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Kurt came home from work on Wednesday to be met with a huge hug and kiss from Sam as he came in the door.

"Not that I'm complaining, because that was the best welcome home greeting ever, but is there a reason?"

"Nope. Just that I'm glad you're home."

"Well...thanks. I'm glad to be home," Kurt kissed him again and then stepped back to take his coat off.

Sam took it from him and laid it over the dining chair. Kurt just looked at him.

"No need to hang it up because we're going out in a few minutes."

"Okay."

"I found a potential couch on Craigslist that we're going to go see."

"Oh, good." Kurt looked around. "Everything's cleaned up. Where did everything go? Ooh, I like that." Kurt had noticed that Sam had built a new shelf while he was gone. "That's a really good idea. Putting a shelf against the wall on top of the countertop will give us a place to put dishes and stuff once we actually own some." Sam hadn't let go of Kurt since he had come in the door and had his arms wrapped around Kurt's torso. Kurt leaned back and tipped his head up and kissed Sam. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I came up with the idea after we installed the countertop, but I wanted to surprise you." Sam kissed the back of Kurt's neck and let go of him. "Go look in the bedroom."

"Oh, wow. You built shoe cubbies on this side." He walked around to the other side. "And you bought storage containers and put our stuff in them under the other side. Oh, and you built a shelf under the window. That's a great idea. Now you have a place for your guitar and art supplies and you're going to put my sewing machine and supplies on there too?" Kurt was looking at what was on the floor in front of the obviously not-quite-dry shelf. He walked back around the bed and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck. "It's perfect." He kissed him.

Sam just held on tight even after the kiss ended. "I'm glad you like it. The only thing left is to find a couch, then get sheets that go with everything to make the screen and the curtains for the bedroom. Maybe the couch we're going to see in a little bit will work. You didn't see the bathroom yet." He didn't let go of Kurt, but sort of slow danced him over to the bathroom.

"You got an over-the-toilet shelf and plastic drawers for under the sink. It looks great in here. That's a lot of shopping and building in one day."

"Okay, fine. I confess. I wimped out on going to the license branch. I have that appointment tomorrow afternoon at the school. I'm going to go to the license branch first thing tomorrow morning."

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"That has to be the grossest place I have ever been. I feel like I need to have a decontamination shower and we didn't even end up going inside," Kurt said.

"Maybe we should just save up and buy a new couch. I'm not sure I can take much of this type of shopping."

"I'm inclined to agree with you at this point. I'm going to ask around at work tomorrow if anyone knows of any good thrift stores that sell larger items."

"That's a good idea. Can you write down the names of the other schools you applied to for next fall? I want to take them with me tomorrow and look at them and any other suggestions that the resource center offers."

"Sure." Kurt pulled his phone out and texted Sam the names of the schools.

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The next morning after Kurt headed off to work, Sam headed out to the license branch, where he spent several hours waiting, but did eventually get his new driver's license.

He made it to the appointment at the school on time. The teacher looked through the DVD of the photos he had of his artwork and she looked through the list of schools Kurt had texted him. They looked through each of the schools websites and she also showed him a couple of others that were in the NYC area.

She helped him complete the essay for the common application and she knew a way to get the application fees waived. He made an appointment to come back the next afternoon to actually send in the applications. He waited for school to end and went to one of the art rooms to find the painting teacher.

"Mr. Callahan?" Sam said as he entered the room.

"Yes," the teacher said, without looking up from his desk.

"My name is Sam Evans."

He looked up. "I'm sorry. I thought you were... never mind. How can I help you?"

"Well, I'm starting here next semester, but I need to get portfolios turned in with my college applications before school starts again, specifically tomorrow afternoon because that's when Miss Ramirez in the resource center can help me. I know it's a big imposition, but would there be any time you have available tomorrow before 1:00 that I could show you my art work and you could give me some pointers on what would be good to include in my portfolio?"

"What did you say your name was?"

"Sam Evans."

"Well, Sam, why don't you come in tomorrow at 11:00. My students will be taking a final exam. I can look through your images while they take it. Then when they leave at 12:30, I can talk to you while I eat lunch."

"Thank you. I really appreciate it. I'll be here at 11:00."

Sam went down to the office to see if the counselor was still at school because he needed to drop off a copy of his driver's license. He got that dealt with and walked back home.

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While Sam was busy all day, Kurt was doing his regular tasks at work, which meant answering the phone most of the time. Isabelle did pull him out of his office to come to hers mid-afternoon.

"So...?" she asked with a gleam in her eye and a smirk on her lips.

Kurt just tilted his head slightly and looked confused.

"Did I miss out on something? Did I forget to do something important?" Kurt was wracking his brain and came up empty.

"No, no silly. So, tell me about Mr. Handsome you brought with you Monday morning who looked fantastic in our swimsuit layout, by the way."

"Oh... that."

"Yes. Come on. Three weeks ago, you still looked like you might take back your cheating loser ex-boyfriend and now you've got Mr. Gorgeous living with you. Spill."

"Fine. Sam and I have been friends for over two years. He lived with my family for about 11 months before I came here. I had a crush on him when he first transferred 2 years ago. But sadly, he thought he was straight and I met 'Mr. Cheating Loser' as you called him. Sam recently realized that he is not straight and he and I are dating now."

"And living together."

"Well, yeah. But that's hardly new. We've lived together 11 out of the last 14 months."

"Not like this."

"Fine, fine. Not like this. I really like him. I mean as a person. He is genuinely the nicest person. He and I get along really well. We always have. I just put him in the 'never gonna happen' file and went on with us being good friends. And now we're boyfriends. End of story. He's going to finish high school here and he's applying to colleges for next fall. And he's looking for a job, so if you know of any, let me know. And on a completely different note, I am looking for a couch and I have a new address."

"You moved?"

"Just downstairs in the same building. Someone broke their lease and moved out of town. Sam and I moved into a tiny flat. It's probably 1/3 the size of the loft and half the cost, which will help me a lot. If Sam hadn't moved here, I was going to have to get a second job. But no more screeching Rachel doing vocal runs at 6:30am and no more oversharing of private time that wasn't very private with only curtains separating the rooms. Brody moved in as a paying roommate."

"I see. So, you lost the couch in the divorce."

"Pretty much. I lost most everything that wasn't personally mine. I got the leather chair in the living room, the two leather vintage chairs and a few things from the kitchen were my cut, plus $1000 cash. She didn't want to go shopping again. Her dads have money, so she bought me out of my half of the stuff. It's fine. Sam and I have built most of the stuff we really needed and we rehabilitated some seriously ugly dressers and a table that was a disaster. So, what we really need is a couch to finish up the place."

"Well, I may have just the solution for you if you can wait until Saturday or Sunday. I'll come find you after I get an answer."

"You know where I'll be." Kurt smiled and walked back to his office.

An hour later, Isabelle walked into his office with a business card with an address written on the back. "Be there at 2:00 sharp on Sunday. If you show up and move the couch out of her place and into a moving truck, it's yours. Sadie has decided that burgundy is all wrong for this year's Christmas party at her Soho loft. She's having a new blue couch delivered at 3:00." Isabelle did her best impression of Sadie. "The old, tired burgundy couch just MUST be gone." She laughed. "The old, tired couch is the one she bought two years ago. It's burgundy leather. I can't see how it could possibly be in bad shape. It looked perfect the last time I was there. And it's free in more ways than one."

"Bug free is the important part. I could pay her something for it. I have money left from the divorce to buy a couch."

"Save it. Use it to buy something for you and Sam for Christmas, like a nice date out together or something." She winked at him.

Kurt's mind drifted to fun date ideas, but snapped back to the present when he realized that Isabelle was looking at him. He was still smiling though. "Thank you for this. We'll be wherever this is at 2:00 with a truck, somehow. A nice couch is not something to pass up."

"You're welcome. I'm glad to see you smiling again. Mr. Cheating Loser didn't deserve you. It seems like maybe Sam does if he makes you smile like that."

"If you're going to be around for the holidays, maybe you can stop by if you're ever out slumming it in Bushwick."

"I might just be," she smiled and flounced out.

Kurt looked up the address on Google and found the closest U-Haul location and reserved a truck for Sunday afternoon.

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Sam got home about an hour before Kurt was due to arrive. He picked up the items that were on the floor in front of the new shelf and put them on the shelf neatly. He read through the dress code for his new school and then looked through his clothes and decided that none of them violated any of the rules, which meant he didn't have to buy any new clothes. He would get one more paycheck from the restaurant in Lima direct deposited into his account the next day. He was going to have to spend part of it buying a winter coat.

Sam started dinner a little bit before Kurt walked in the door. He let Kurt hang his coat up and then hugged and kissed him.

"That really is the best welcome home. So, are you the owner of a New York driver's license?"

"I am. And I finished my applications today and tomorrow I'm meeting the art teacher to help me with my portfolio and then my applications are being sent in tomorrow afternoon."

Kurt hugged him. "That's great. Really. I'm so happy for you."

"How did your day go?"

"Well, we have to be in Soho by 2:00 on Sunday afternoon to collect a very nice cast-off couch." Kurt imitated Sadie's voice - "It just won't go with my Christmas theme this year."

Sam laughed. "Who was that supposed to be?"

"Sadie. As long as we remove it from her loft, it's ours. Isabelle says that it is burgundy leather and in good shape. And definitely bug free. So, I reserved a U-Haul and we're going to Soho on Sunday. The cost of the U-Haul is worth getting a nice couch."

"I agree. After dinner, we need to go shopping. I'm scraping the bottom of my creativity barrel with what I made for dinner. It's more of a conglomeration of what's left versus being a meal that goes together."

"Well, it's food. We'll eat it and we'll go shopping."

"You sit and start a shopping list and I'll finish up cooking."

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"Let's go in this place where they have all sorts of odds and ends stuff before we go get the groceries. We might find sheets there."

"Okay. I also realized today that I need a good winter coat. I wore my letterman jacket to school all the time and I didn't walk, I drove. Since I have to walk now, I need some real winter boots too probably."

"Okay. We'll look this weekend at different thrift shops I've found for those things. We're here." Kurt opened the door to the store and let Sam go in first.

Sam was amazed by the sheer amount of stuff that was not organized in any recognizable way.

"It's like a scavenger hunt with deep discount prices if you find what you actually came for," Kurt whispered.

"I see that."

"So, you look for two king size sheets that match and would go with the colors in the apartment. I'm going to look for the same thing, but start on the opposite side of the store. If you find a third matching sheet, then we'll take it too. Ready? Go!" Kurt laughed.

They split up and started searching through boxes. After 30 minutes of searching they met back in the middle and showed each other what they had found.

"Well, I like the two you found best for the room divider," Kurt said. "And this one looks decent with those two. They're $5 each. Let's just take them. Unless you hate them."

"They're fine. They go with what we have and they'll give us privacy. Let's get them."

"Did you see any shower curtain hangers? Oh and do you like this for the bathroom?"

"It's good. And I saw shower curtain hangers in that box up on top of that shelf over there."

Kurt went and looked through the box and picked up two matching sets and a third set for the bathroom. "This will be so much easier than the yarn I tied the shower curtain liner up with just so we could shower this week."

Sam laughed. "I'm sure it will be."

"How about boxes of plates? Did you see any of those lying around?"

"I did actually. Under that table." Sam pulled out the three styles. "This one has some extra pieces to it over on that shelf." He pointed to a shelf on the other wall.

"Grab it and let's go see the extra pieces."

Kurt looked through the shelf and picked up two medium serving bowls and a platter. "We can use these for salads and soups for ourselves," referring to the large bowls. He also had a box of flatware under his arm.

"I don't think we have room left in our backpacks to go grocery shopping," Sam teased him as they left the store.

"But at least we have something to eat food off of and with now. We can get enough food for breakfast and lunch. We'll go back out shopping this weekend. That will give us time to come up with meal ideas."

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When they got home, Kurt pulled his sewing machine out onto his desk and put reinforced buttonholes spaced evenly along the end of the sheet they got to use as a curtain. Once he was finished, he opened the other two sheets up and the shower curtain and went down to the laundry room and washed and dried all of them. He took a book to read while he waited.

He realized that they had forgotten to get anything to hang the curtains on when he got back upstairs and walked over to the window.

"Ugh," he grumbled.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked. He was working on the same painting he had been working on all week.

"We didn't get anything to hang the curtains from."

"I wonder if the hardware store is still open."

"I don't know." He put his desk stool near the window to look to see if there was anything already in the brick that they could use to put the curtain up temporarily. There were two eyehooks that protruded about two inches from the wall. "Can you come hand me the end of the curtain with one of the shower curtain rings attached to the end buttonhole?"

"Sure." Sam attached the clip and handed it to Kurt.

Kurt slipped it into the eyehook and climbed down. He moved the stool to the other side of the window. "Okay do the same thing to the other end." Kurt took it from him and ended up moving the clip a few spaces in and fastened it through the eyehook. "We'll get a pole tomorrow. At least no one can see in."

Sam gave him a hug when he climbed down. "It's gonna look great."

"Thanks. On to the bathroom to rehang the shower liner and hang our new curtain. You can go back to painting." He kissed him and picked up the shower curtain and hooks and went into the bathroom.

After he finished that, he measured out the spaces in the frame they had built for the room divider and he cut the sheets and sewed the seams for the panels. A few hours later, he had finished all of the sections. He went to see how Sam's painting was turning out.

"Ooh, I like that. Can we hang it over the table when it's done?"

"Sure, if you like it that much."

"I really do. We need to get some upholstery tacks to fasten the fabric pieces to the frames when we get a rod tomorrow. I'll iron the curtains and the fabric sections when we have the stuff we need. I'm bushed. Are you ready to go to bed?"

"Sure. You go first and I'll clean up."

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"I already love the curtain," Sam said as he climbed into bed. It feels a lot better in here and once we get the fabric sections on the room divider, I'm sure it will feel even better."

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable. If you want we can go back to that place and get some more sheets to make curtains for the living room."

"I'll think about it. Go ahead and turn the book on and then scoot back over here to me, okay?"

Kurt curled up on his side as the little spoon while Sam wrapped his arms around him and they listened to the book for a while before they went to sleep.

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Sam headed off the hardware store as soon as Kurt left for work. He got there to find out that it didn't open for an hour. He decided to look around and see what else there was in the area. He found a thrift shop, probably one of the ones Kurt was planning to take him to over the weekend. He went in a coffee shop and ordered the cheapest drink on the menu and sat and drank it slowly until he could head back to the hardware store.

He asked for upholstery tacks and picked up several packages. He bought section of metal pipe to use as a curtain rod.

"Do you have any equipment here?"

"For what?"

"I really need two holes drilled through the pipe, one on each end."

"I can't really help with that. Why do you need holes in it?"

"I'm sliding it through two eye screws and I don't want it to slip out."

"Oh, you could screw two fittings on the ends and then it wouldn't fit through the eye screws anymore. That should keep it in place."

"I'll take two of those, then, and this stuff." Sam paid for everything and took it home. He had wanted to actually put the curtain up and surprise Kurt, but he had to leave to make it to the school on time. He grabbed his backpack and the DVD with all of his photos on it, made a quick peanut butter sandwich and ate it on the way to the school.

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Sam went into Mr. Callahan's room and gave him the DVD, then went to the resource center so he wouldn't disturb the students taking their final exam.

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"Good morning, Sam. I didn't think we'd see you until this afternoon," Mrs. Ramirez said as he came in the room.

"Well, Mr. Callahan is looking over my photos right now and I'm supposed to go back at 12:30. I figured I might be able to wait in here without bothering anyone."

"That's true. Did you get that health insurance application done?"

"Oh, no, I didn't. I forgot. I'm sorry. We've been busy finishing up the apartment we moved into this past weekend. Can I do it on one of these computers?"

"Sure. Here use this one." She pointed to the one closest to where she was standing. She put in a password and he sat down. She loaded the page with the online form he needed to fill out. "Just fill in all of the boxes and if you want me to check it before you hit send, just ask."

"Thanks." He spent the next half-hour filling in all of the boxes very carefully. He got up and asked for her to look it over.

"It looks fine, Sam. Go ahead and hit enter."

"Thanks for your help."

"You're welcome."

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Thirty minutes later, he was sitting with Mr. Callahan going through his portfolio options. They discussed the pros and cons of different pieces and eventually came to a final selection of pieces.

"Be sure to save the file names exactly the way each school asks for you to. I'm sure someone will help you with that if you ask. I'm looking forward to having you in class next semester, Sam."

"Thank you for your help today. I really had no idea what to include. You've been a big help. I look forward to learning more next semester."

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He went back to the resource center with the list of the photos he wanted to use. Mrs. Ramirez helped him make duplicates of the photos and name them the way each school required. They spent the whole afternoon sending in his applications. He finalized his choices down to 5 schools. It was stressful, but exciting.

"Do you think I have any chance of getting into any of these schools? My SAT scores were horrible."

"Well, I think your letters of recommendation were really strong. I also included a letter from our school commenting on how you had never received the proper help for your dyslexia and that we would be addressing your test taking skills this semester. Hopefully that combined with the fact that your grades are really not that bad and your art work is lovely will help them see that you'd be a good candidate for their programs. Most art programs are not heavy on coursework outside the art courses, so that is to your advantage. They are looking for talent and skill in the art field more than someone who is good at chemistry or calculus."

"Well, I hope you're right. We'll just have to wait and see. When do schools start sending out letters?"

"Well, some schools will request additional art work in February to see your newer work. Others just wait until early April and send out acceptance or rejection letters."

"That seems like such a long time to wait."

"I know. But everyone is in the same boat. Hurry up and turn in the applications, only to wait 3 months for a response."

"Thanks again for your help. Kurt would have helped me, but I'm really glad that I didn't have to ask him to. He's done so much for me as it is."

"Well, that's what we do here. None of us would be in this educational area if we didn't want to help struggling students. Never feel like you're bothering us. That's what we want to do."

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Kurt was sewing when he walked in the door. He got up and greeted Sam the way that Sam had been greeting him - with a big hug and a kiss.

"I saw you got what we needed. Thanks. I'm ready to hang the curtain. I have just a little more to finish this last seam for the room dividers. You can pull the ironing board out and plug in the iron and we can get them up sooner."

Sam set it up and plugged the iron in.

"There. Done." He ironed the curtain and Sam helped by keeping the ironed part from re-wrinkling by holding it up by the corners and backing away from the ironing board as Kurt ironed. They carried it and laid it on the bed. They hooked the rings through the buttonholes. Then the slipped the rings over the pole and scooted them to the center.

Sam carefully stood in a chair and slid the ends of the poles through the eye hooks by sliding one end in then sliding the pole to the side and lining it up to get it into the eye hook on the other side. He climbed down and moved the chair to each end and attached the fittings. He spread the curtain out evenly and climbed down. He backed up and said, "Perfect. Let's get the fabric on the room dividers."

Kurt ironed each section and Sam kept them from re-wrinkling as he ironed. They laid each section out on the bed. Once all of the sections were ironed, Sam put the ironing board up to get it out of the way and placed the iron on the counter to cool.

"Let's lay the frame down in the open space and put the fabric sections down and nail the upholstery tacks in place. We'll start with all four corners of each section and then see how many more we need to hold them in place."

Kurt held the fabric in place while Sam nailed the tacks in gently. They stood the divider up to look.

"Okay, we'll need one more tack on the top and bottom of each section in the middle and if we have enough tacks, it would be nice to put one halfway between the top and bottom on each side."

They laid it back down and finished with a few tacks to spare.

"Let's stand it up and see how it looks," Kurt said. He and Kurt moved it to where they wanted it and got it standing in position and then walked to the front of the apartment.

"It's perfect. Now our room is a room."

"Let's go check it out from the other side," Kurt said.

It wobbled a bit when they walked past.

"I think I'll add some little feet to the ends," Sam said.

He and Kurt lay down on top of the comforter and kept their feet dangling off the bed.

"I like it. It feels more cozy and like a bedroom now," Sam said. "Thank you for sewing everything."

"You've done just as much to make this place our home. But you're welcome. Let's go out and get some food."

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They decided to cook their first real, eat-on-their-own-plates meal at home rather than grab take out. They were putting the groceries away when Kurt got a text from Rachel.

"That's weird. She says I have to come up to the loft right now and you should stay here. I'll be right back."

Kurt grabbed his coat and ran upstairs to find Rachel and his dad standing in the loft living room.

"Dad?"

"Hey, kiddo. I decided I'd bring Christmas to you since you weren't coming home." Burt was standing with a Christmas tree that hadn't been untied yet. And he had a box of ornaments that he had already pulled out.

"Burt, it's great to see you, but I'm on my way out to fly to meet up for the cruise my dads and I are going on."

"Don't go just yet. I brought you something." He handed her a small gold box.

She opened it and pulled out a glittery red apple ornament.

"It's for your first holiday season in the Big Apple."

"Thank you. I'll let Kurt put it on the tree later." Kurt helped her put her coat on and palmed her key to the loft while doing it.

Burt hadn't been in the loft long enough to notice that Kurt's stuff was gone. Kurt didn't know what exactly to do.

"I've got tickets for us for a show tonight. Let's get going." Burt grabbed his coat off the back of the chair.

"I need to text someone really quick and cancel my plans," Kurt said. "Don't worry. It's fine," he added when he saw Burt looked upset.

Kurt texted Sam.

To Sam: My dad's here. He bought tickets to some show for the two of us. I'm sorry. I'm going to go with him. Think about what you want me to do. I'll text you again after the show. We'll make dinner together soon. I'm really sorry. Order Chinese or pizza or whatever you want.

From Sam: Okay. I'll think and I'll wait for you to text.

"Okay, Dad. Let's go." Kurt locked the loft and they headed into the city.

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"I never thought I'd see this day. Us walking down the streets of New York, right after seeing a live Broadway musical," Kurt said as he and Burt walked arm in arm down the sidewalk.

"Well, the Rockettes might have better legs than me, but they can't touch my 'Single Ladies' performance."

"That was the best musical I've ever seen."

"Oh, it's freezing. It's time to check off another Hummel family tradition - hot chocolate."

They went inside a diner and sat at the counter. They each ordered a hot chocolate and an order of fries to split.

"Kurt, I have something to tell you, and I came here because it's the kind of thing I want to tell you face-to-face."

"Don't like the sound of that."

"Look, I'm just going to come out and say it because there's no good way to say it. Um, I have prostate cancer."

Kurt's face changed from happiness to despair. He sighed. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"No, no. Hey, hey, look at me. Do I look like a guy who's dying? We caught it early. You know, local stage, no spreading. Cure rate's nearly 100%."

Kurt snatched the plate of fries and slid it away from Burt. "For healthy people, Dad. You've already had a heart attack."

"The heart attack is what, you know, made me get checkups twice a year."

"It's just really scary to think that when I finally reach my destiny that you won't be around to see it."

"Hey." Burt stretched out his hand and put it on Kurt's shoulder. "I will be there. I promise." He paused and moved his hand back. "Look, can I just give you one piece of advice while we're still talking father to son? This is 3 times I've had to stare death in the eye. And you know the one thing I took away from all that? You've got to hold the people you love close to you no matter what."

Kurt reached out and took Burt's hand and nodded.

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Kurt took Burt back to the loft. He still hadn't figured out what he was going to do. His dad was sitting in the living room and he was fiddling around in the kitchen.

"Do you need a drink? Tea, water, a pillow?"

"No, Kurt. Stop. Let's focus on happy things, like our Christmas traditions. My gift to you is really big. Too big to fit under a Christmas tree."

"Curiosity piqued."

"Okay, so you can pick it up at this address, and you know, if you don't like it, you can return it."

Kurt took the slip of paper from Burt and put his coat on to go to the address.

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Kurt arrived at a skating rink. He was really confused, but he walked over toward the rink, thinking that maybe Carole and Finn were waiting for him. He got a little closer and he heard, "Package for Kurt Hummel." And he turned to see Blaine on ice skates, waiting for him.

"Blaine?" The first thought that flashed through his mind was how could he "return" his gift as his dad had mentioned.

"Surprise! Your dad called me out of the blue and wanted to fly me out here for just so I could see that look on your face, and it's pretty priceless."

Kurt was shocked. He was sure that was visible from across the rink.

"Actually, he told me everything. I'll keep an eye on him for you. But the reason why I'm here is because he didn't want us to miss out on another important holiday tradition."

"Our Christmas duet?" Which Blaine had most certainly been blabbing about to his dad since Kurt had never mentioned it before.

"You are happy to see me, right?"

"You know what? I'm really not in the mood to skate. Let's just head back to the loft."

"Um, okay. Let me go get my shoes back."

"I'll wait right here for you."

Blaine skated off. Kurt pulled his phone out and immediately dialed Sam.

"Sam, Blaine's here. My dad brought Blaine."

"Calm down. I'm not sure how to fix this, but bring him back to the loft. You have to tell your dad the truth."

"Sam, my dad just told me that he has cancer."

"Oh, God. I'm sorry, Kurt. But he still deserves the truth. Bring him back to the loft. Putting it off any longer will not help."

"I know. I'm just so angry and sad. He told Blaine before he told me." Kurt was trying not to cry.

"I'm here for you. Here in our apartment. I'll wait up for you."

"Okay. See you."

Blaine walked up with a backpack hanging over one shoulder. "So, to the loft?"

"Yeah. Come on."

Kurt listened to Blaine blather on about McKinley and tried to act like he was paying attention. They took a taxi so that Kurt wouldn't have to be with him alone as long.

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"Please, have a seat," Kurt said to Blaine.

"You're back early," Burt said as they came in.

"Dad, you had something to tell me earlier. I have something to tell you now."

"What is it?"

"What did Blaine tell you about why we broke up?" Kurt gave Blaine the "don't you dare speak" look.

"Well, he said that the distance was just too hard on the both of you and that you decided to take a break until he was in New York at the end of the school year."

Kurt looked directly at Blaine. "Tell him the truth or I will."

Blaine just sat there.

"What do you mean, 'the truth'?"

"I broke up with Blaine because he cheated on me two weeks after I got to New York. He was supposed to visit the middle of October and already had a plane ticket, but he showed up two weeks early to tell me that he had cheated on me. And I don't mean that he just kissed someone when he was drunk or something."

"Is that true?" Burt asked Blaine. "Did you cheat on Kurt, then lie to me about what happened?"

"He wasn't taking my calls. I thought he had moved on."

"You called me at WORK, Blaine. I told you I could lose my job. It costs $900 a month for half the rent on this loft. I had to work. I realize that you've never had to work for a penny in your life, but do you know how many hours a week you have to work to make enough money to live in New York?"

Blaine just sat there.

"I'll answer that. Just to pay rent, utilities and food, I'd have to work like 60 hours a week at a minimum wage job. The job I got allows me to work around 40 hours a week and I can pay everything, but I had to put a deposit down on the loft, a deposit to get the electricity turned on. We had to buy everything that's in this loft. I sold my Navigator to cover that stuff. And you got your feelings hurt that I couldn't take your calls every time you called between classes."

"You didn't listen even when I called after school."

"Neither did you. But I didn't go out and fuck a random because you didn't pay attention to the fact that I was really tired from working so much. It's an hour commute each way. Then I work 8 hours most days. I'm gone for nearly 12 hours a day most days. And you got upset because I didn't actually care about which tie you wore for a presidential debate at school. You've gotten everything I wanted. I didn't even sing back up for Rachel at Nationals. You did. A junior. You got Tony. Then you ran for class president and WON. Oh, and I know about your pact with Rachel."

"What are you talking about, Kurt?" Burt asked.

"Ask him," he said looking at Blaine.

Blaine just sat there.

"Fine." Kurt responded. "I gave him something that MATTERED because I thought he loved me. When it turns out that Artie suggested that he and Rachel would be better actors if they had an 'awakening', shall we say," using finger quotes. "And that was his motivation."

"That better not mean what I think it does."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you got the exact meaning, Dad."

"Okay. Enough's enough. Answer the charges that Kurt has made, Blaine."

"What he said is true," Blaine said quietly.

"Get up," Burt said. "Now."

Blaine stood.

"The three of us are going to the airport right now. And you will repay the cost of the airplane ticket I bought for you and the cost of the taxi ride to and from the airport tonight."

Blaine began to speak.

"Don't say another word. I do not want to hear your voice ever again. You will repay me or I will go to your parents for the money. Bring it to the shop and leave it in an envelope with my name on it. Give it to Cassius. I'm serious about never wanting to see you again. Now, get downstairs so we can grab a cab."

The ride to the airport was absolutely silent. Burt switched Blaine's flight to the next flight available out to Columbus.

"How I am supposed to get from Columbus to Lima?"

Burt took Kurt by the arm and walked back out to call for a cab.

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On the ride back, neither of them spoke. Once they were back in the loft, Kurt was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you why I broke up with Blaine. It was humiliating. I was stunned and heartbroken. I just couldn't tell anyone the truth about it right then. He blamed me and I bought the lie. I believed him. I took the blame. I didn't pay enough attention to him. He felt abandoned. He, he, he. Nothing about me. But that had been the way of things for so long that it had just become second nature. I finally got my head on straight and realized that it wasn't my fault. None of it was. I mean I was part of the situation, yes, but not paying 100% of my attention to my boyfriend doesn't give him the right to do the things he's done to me."

"Things? As in more than one."

"Yes. I really don't want to rehash any of it. I've worked through all of it and learned a lot from my mistakes."

"Okay. You know that I would have NEVER brought him here if I had known that he cheated on you."

"I know, Dad. I really had a hard time telling you tonight. I wanted this weekend to be nice, but with him here that just wasn't going to be possible."

"I can imagine not."

"So, I have something else to tell you."

"What?"

"I'm not actually living here in the loft anymore. I moved out Monday - so four days ago. I live in a much smaller place downstairs on the second floor."

"I see. When were you going to tell me this?"

"I needed to talk to Rachel. She doesn't want anyone to know who she's living with now and I couldn't figure out how to tell you without you finding out that she's living with someone else."

"Okay, well I won't say anything to anyone."

"Please don't. This is Rachel's story to tell people, not mine."

"Got it. So, this new place?"

"Well, I have a roommate as well. It will save me a ton of money. I was paying $900 a month on the loft, plus half the utilities. The place downstairs will just be $400 for my half and the utilities will be about half as much I would imagine since it's only about 1/3 of the size of this loft."

Kurt's phone pinged with a text.

From Sam: You can tell him as long as he doesn't tell anyone else.

To Sam: Okay. We're in the loft. Blaine is on his way back to Ohio. Talking to Dad right now.

"Sorry. I was waiting for that text."

"So, you have a new roommate and your expenses are going down. Any other news?"

"Yes, I've decided to defer my admission to NYADA to the fall. I started looking at other colleges when I got here and I had applied to several before Madame Tibideaux so graciously allowed me to audition with absolutely no forewarning in front of a large group of important people."

"Okay. So, what are you going to do until the fall?"

"I'm going to keep working the job I have until it ends, and then get a different one. I still have to pay my bills and this way, I won't be going in the hole each month like I have been."

"Well, that's good."

"Hopefully, I'll be able to save up enough to be able to get by working 20 hours a week once school starts."

"That's still a lot of hours."

"It may be, but I have to live somewhere and eat."

"I know. So, where can I stay? I'm assuming here since you said your new place is much smaller and you have a roommate."

"Yes, you can stay here in the loft in Rachel's room. We're picking up a couch on Sunday. So, right now all that's in my apartment is my bed."

"I see. And your roommate is sleeping in your bed."

"Yes. Before you get upset, well more upset. I will tell you who my roommate is, but it goes into the same category as Rachel. You can't tell anyone. I mean no one, well besides Carole I guess, but she has to be willing to keep it secret from Finn. If she's not, then you can't tell her right now."

"Okay. Fine."

"Sam's here. This is where he came when he left last Friday. He didn't go back to Kentucky. He came to finish school here. He enrolled in a school about 4 blocks from here on Tuesday. His parents know that he's here."

"Okay. So, Sam's here, and he's the one sleeping in your bed."

"Yep."

"I'm okay with that."

"Good. Do you want him to come up? Or would you rather it just be the two of us?"

"Well, honestly, it's really late and I'm tired. Why don't we just call it a night? You can go downstairs and sleep in your bed and I'll go sleep in Rachel's bed. I'll text you when I'm up in the morning and we can talk more tomorrow."

"Okay. I'm sorry about the way you found out tonight. I just couldn't bear to spend the weekend with him here trying to pretend that I can stand being around him. I forgave him because I needed closure on my anger. But I'm not ready to spend time with him."

"Well, if I have anything to say about it, you won't be spending time with him."

Kurt stood up. "Call when you wake up. I may not hear the text ping, but I'll definitely hear the phone ring." He let himself out and locked the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt let himself into the apartment and laid his coat over the chair closest to the door. Sam was there in a heartbeat, pulling into hug and just holding him. "I'm here."

"Thank you. I'm going to go shower, and then we can talk."

Sam cleaned his art supplies up, hung up Kurt's coat and waited for Kurt in the bed.

Kurt came out, turned off the last light and climbed in bed and lay flat on his back.

"I know you need time to decompress before you talk, but is it okay if I hold your hand?"

Kurt reached across the center of the bed and took Sam's hand and intertwined their fingers. They lay there silently for a long time.

Eventually, Kurt spoke. "He lied to my dad about why we broke up. By only telling my dad that I broke up with Blaine, but not why, I left it open for speculation. Blaine told him it was because we couldn't handle the distance and that it was just temporary until he moved to New York."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"I know, but all my dad heard was that it wasn't over, it was just temporarily on hiatus. He thought I still loved Blaine. He wanted to bring him here to make me happy. I'm not angry with my dad. I should have told him the whole truth from the beginning. It was just so humiliating. Blaine went nuts accusing me of cheating when I spent a few days texting Chandler and then he lets a random fuck him when I'm gone for two weeks. That's not the type of relationship I want to be in."

"I remember. I wanted to ring his neck about that. He humiliated you and then you took him back. Do you think he slept with someone to get you to go back to Lima? You had only been here 2 weeks. I wonder if he thought that if he could convince you that it was your fault, that you'd come back to Lima and wait for him to graduate."

"I don't know. I don't even care anymore. It's over. He's never going to be part of my life."

"So, your dad is sleeping in the loft. How long is he staying?"

"You know, I never even got around to asking. We went to the show, got hot chocolate, he told me he has cancer, we went back to the loft, he told me to go pick up my gift - Blaine, I brought him back, I told Dad the truth, he marched us to the airport, we came back, we talked, and I came back home. He never said how long he was staying. I just assumed for the weekend."

"The best part of that whole long thing was that you said you came home."

"We made this our home this past week. Our combined effort can be seen everywhere in this place. I'm really tired. Can I sleep on you?"

Sam lifted his arm and made room for Kurt to scoot over and lay on him. He wrapped his arm around Kurt and kissed him on the top of the head.

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Kurt woke up before Burt called. He gently woke Sam up with a kiss. "We need to talk a bit more before I go bring my dad down here."

"Um, okay." Sam stretched and then wrapped his arms back around Kurt. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Us. What do you want my dad to know about us? He already knows that we are living here together, that you are going to finish high school, and that you are sleeping in my bed. He has no idea that we are together. Do you want him to know?"

"Well, given how things have gone from you keeping secrets from him, it seems to me that it would be in our best interest to tell him the truth."

"That would mean coming out to him."

"Kurt, I'm out. It may not seem like I'm out because I'm not posting it on Facebook or calling up all of the old Glee members and telling them. They aren't really part of my life. I don't feel the need to tell any of them, but I am not hiding who I am here. We've walked around all week holding hands. The dude at the hardware store knows were together. The people you work with know. The people I will be going to school with will figure it out if they spend any time talking to me. We're together. I want to be with you. I'm not hiding who I am. I'm your boyfriend. End of story. If people don't like it, that's their problem, not mine."

"Okay then. Do you want to tell him anything first or do you just want me to tell him before I bring him down?"

"Why don't you let me go bring him down and I'll just tell him myself?"

"Okay."

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Sam stepped inside when Burt opened the door.

"You're not Kurt."

"No, I'm not, but I wanted to talk to you, so here I am."

"So, sit. We'll talk. I wasn't thrilled when you just vanished. I assumed you had gone home. That's sort of the way the letter read that you left behind."

"I did go home. Just not in the way you think. About mid-October, I was in a real funk. I was repeating my senior year. Everyone I was friends with was gone. And Kurt had been gone about a month. I did a lot of soul searching. Deep soul searching. I realized that I was in love with Kurt. I realized that I'm gay and I'm in love with Kurt. I would have never made a move, if he had stayed with Blaine. But Blaine was terrible for him. I never liked Blaine and the feeling was mutual, until this year when he started acting like we could be best bros. Like he was sort of coming on to me. It was super gross, not because he's a guy, but because I don't like him at all."

"Well the feeling's mutual on that one, kid. So, you're gay and in love with Kurt. That's interesting because he liked you from day one. He came home the day you joined Glee in an upbeat mood. He told me about wanting to sing with you and I discouraged him. I took Finn's side. I don't know whether that was the right or wrong thing to do, but it was a long time ago. He thought you might be gay, but I told him to find someone who was out and proud like him. That was bad advice. He should have chosen someone who cared for him over choosing someone who was out. He would have been better off in a relationship with someone who truly loved him than someone who treated him the way that grease stain did. If you're that guy, then good."

"I would never cheat on Kurt. I really do love him. He and I have been friends for over two years. I know his strong points, his weaknesses and I'm completely aware of his faults and idiosyncrasies. I lived with you all for nearly 14 months, 11 of them with Kurt there. I've seen him melt down, be hyper, bake excessively, mope, you name it. I still love him. I missed him so much when he left. I would have come here to be with him, even if he didn't want to date. He really is the best friend I've ever had."

"Does he know that you love him?"

"I haven't told him yet, no. He knows though. I know he knows."

"Well, I appreciate you being honest with me. Shall we go down and decorate this tree I brought?"

"Excellent idea. I'll carry it down. I have the key. I can lock the door once you're out. So, you go first. Just one more thing, first."

"What's that?"

"You can tell Carole, but please don't tell Finn about me being here. Kurt and Rachel have some sort of secrecy pact going until she gets up the nerve to tell Finn that she has a new roommate. Kurt says it's not his place to tell Finn - that it's Rachel's. But if Finn finds out that Kurt has moved out, he'll start asking questions about Rachel and I don't want that blow up to get blamed on me."

"I got it, kid. Kurt already told me that I can't tell anyone that he moved out except Carole. I figured you being here was part of that. But you're not hiding your relationship with Kurt around here are you?"

"No. Not at all. People are going to find out. I'm not hiding anything. I'm just not broadcasting my current location to nosy people who feel like it's their business to tell Kurt or me how to live our lives. I want a chance, a real chance with Kurt. I really do love him and I don't want everyone we know trying to butt in. But here, no one has an agenda of interfering. I can only imagine what Blaine would try to do. He won't give up. I'll tell you that. He thinks that he and Kurt are soulmates."

Burt picked up the small box of ornaments and stepped out the door. Sam slid the door shut and locked it and headed down the stairs. Burt followed.

"Soulmates, my ass," Burt said on his way down the stairs. "You don't cheat on your soulmate."

Sam unlocked the door and opened it to let Burt go through first.

"Hey, Dad. Let's put the stand over between the windows and set the tree up there."

Burt put the box of ornaments on the table. He put the tree stand down on the floor and Sam held the tree in place while Burt adjusted the stand. Kurt gave directions on which way to lean the tree until they got it in straight.

Burt took a look around the apartment. "It looks really nice in here. So, give me the tour."

Kurt excitedly started the tour. "So, here is the kitchen. We added the cabinets, the countertop and the shelving ourselves. Sam built the shelf. To this side with have the dining area with a table we refinished. A bookcase we built. Over in this empty spot will be the couch that we're picking up tomorrow. We built this room divider to give us a separate bedroom area. In there is the bathroom." Burt leaned in to have a look. Sam and Kurt stepped into the far corner of the bedroom. "And this is the bedroom. We built the bed frame. Sam built the shoe caddies underneath that side and the shelf here under the window. I made the curtains and fabric pieces for the room divider. We refinished these dressers. And of course, all of the paintings are Sam's creations."

"Well, this place is great. You two have done a bang up job on getting it looking fantastic in what, less than a week?"

"About a week yes. We didn't get everything moved in until Monday, but we started building on Saturday - a week ago," Kurt answered.

"Well, it looks fantastic."

"Thanks," Sam said.

"How long are you staying?" Kurt asked.

"I'm flying out Monday morning, pretty early. I didn't want Carole to have to come pick me up in the dark Sunday night. You know how she doesn't really like driving in the dark that much. We'll go out for a nice breakfast and then drive the rest of the way to Zanesville from there. We'll head back to Lima on Wednesday."

"Well, Rachel won't be back until early January and her roommate won't be back until after that. So, there's no issue with you staying in the loft."

"Well, that saves me a lot of money on a hotel, so thank you. Is there anything else you boys need that you haven't gotten already? I don't see a TV anywhere."

"Rachel got the TV in the 'divorce' as my boss calls it." Kurt laughed.

"Seems like she got most everything."

"Well, I got $1000 cash for her keeping my half of the stuff. So, that's what we've been using to fix this place up and build and buy what we needed. We've got money left from that. We were going to hit some pawn shops and thrift stores today. Sam needs a winter coat and boots since he'll be walking to school."

"Well, don't let me stop you. We'll go grab my coat and go out for breakfast and shop."

"You want to go shopping with us? Now, that's a surprise." Kurt laughed.

"I just want to spend time with you. I came here to be with you. If you'd rather not go out, we can go back up to the loft and you can cook for me and we can sit around and talk more."

"You're serious. You'll go out with us to pick out a used TV and a coat and boots?"

"Sure. I was serious. Let's go grab my coat."

Sam handed Kurt the loft key and grabbed his vest and Kurt's coat and they headed out the door.

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"Let's look around."

The three of them looked in different areas.

"Hey, Kurt." Sam waved him over to look. "The DVDs are 3/$10 and the series are just $6 for each season. They have all of the _Stargate SG-1_ seasons."

"Pick them up. I'll be right back."

"Excuse me." Kurt asked the guy behind the counter. "Do you ever give discounts on bulk buys? The DVD series back there are $6 per season, but let's say I buy all 10 seasons of a particular show, would you go for $50 for all of them?"

"You buying a TV?"

"Yes."

"Then, yeah. I'll knock $10 off the DVDs."

"Thank you!"

Kurt walked back over and took the whole stack of DVDs out of Sam's arms and carried them back up to the counter. He went right back to the TVs they were looking at.

"So how about this TV?" Burt asked. "It's not huge, but it's got a nice picture and the price is decent."

"Sounds good."

"Let's see if they've got a DVD player."

They looked around some more and found a few. Kurt picked one up and took it to the counter and got in line.

"Can you hook this up and show us that it works?"

"Sure." He took it from Kurt's hand and plugged it into a TV behind the counter and stuck a DVD in it and played it.

"That looks good," Kurt said. "Do you have one of those cables you're using to hook the DVD player to the TV?"

"Yeah."

"I'll take one of those too, please."

Burt walked up behind him and said, "Ring that DVD player up separately. I'm paying for that."

The guy nodded. He gave Burt his total and he paid.

Next, he gave Kurt the total and he paid. He stuck the cord in the bag and carefully carried the TV and the bag of DVDs to the door. Sam grabbed the DVD bag and opened the door for Kurt. They put the TV in the back seat and drove back to the apartment to put it inside since it was so cold. Sam put the bag of DVDs and the DVD player on the table next to the TV.

"You didn't have to buy those DVDs."

"I know. I wanted to. I know how much you like the show and I like it too. I've never seen all of them. We'll watch them together." He hugged Sam and kissed him. "It's a present for both of us to enjoy together." Kurt locked the door back. He kissed Sam again and took his hand and went back out to the car where Burt was waiting for them until they came back outside. They were walking to breakfast and the thrift store.

"Thanks for the DVD player, Dad," Kurt said, as he opened the car door and Burt got out.

"Well, I think it was a much better gift that my first one."

"So, breakfast?" Kurt asked, ignoring the reference to Blaine.

"Yes. Let's go eat and then find Sam a real coat before he turns into a popsicle in that vest."

Sam laughed. "I'll make it for a little while. We're having a warm spell."

"It's 35 degrees outside."

"That's warmer than 20 with a foot of snow."

"I'm sure that's coming in January some time," Burt said.

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Kurt carried one of the chairs from the loft down to their apartment so they could all eat dinner at the table together. Burt sat in the leather chair that Kurt had kept for himself and Kurt and Sam moved the vintage chairs that normally sat up to their table over into the living room area while they were talking.

"So, because it's a holiday, we're going to order a pizza - a good one from my favorite place. I'm going to go call it in."

He came back. "They said 45 minutes. So, let's put on some Christmas music and decorate the tree while we wait."

Kurt and Sam strung the set of lights on the tree first, and then they put on the ornaments. Burt or Kurt told the story of each of the ornaments that he brought with him. Not long after they finished, there was a knock at the door.

Burt answered the door and gave the driver a tip. "Thanks. Merry Christmas!"

Burt put the pizza on the table and opened the box. Sam grabbed napkins and poured them some drinks and put them on the table. Kurt grabbed plates, and then moved the two chairs back over to the table.

"This is really good," Burt said.

"I thought you'd like it."

After they finished eating and cleaned everything up, Kurt turned all the lights off and they admired the tree.

"It looks great, Dad. Thanks for coming and bringing the tree and the ornaments."

"I'm glad I came."

Sam got his guitar out and the three of them sang a few Christmas songs before Burt headed back upstairs.

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Kurt and Sam got up early the next morning and went grocery shopping. They hadn't been in so long that they decided to take Sam's car and drive to a large grocery store and stock up. They had just about gotten everything put away when Burt called saying that he was up.

Kurt left Sam to finish up and he went upstairs to meet Burt and lock the loft before they came back down. "Just grab your coat now, in case you need it later."

"Come in for a few minutes. I want to talk to you."

"Okay." Kurt sat down on the couch and Burt sat in the chair facing him.

"I just want to ask you a few questions. You didn't just decide Friday night to defer your enrollment did you?"

"No, I had already decided that. I just hadn't told you yet. I'm not 100% certain that NYADA is where I want to go and I can't see spending that much money if I'm not sure. I've visited some other schools in the last month that I really liked. I sent in several applications for fall admission. We'll see what happens. I'm going to spend my afternoons off each week visiting the schools I applied to. I'm going to scope out the classes and the instructors. I want to make sure I'm making the right choice for myself. It's a big commitment of time and money."

"Okay. I just wanted to be sure. The other thing is Sam. He told me yesterday morning that he's gay and the two of you are dating now. I'm fine with that, as I'm sure you've already figured out."

Kurt nodded. "I assumed so. You didn't act upset about it. I knew he was going to tell you yesterday morning."

"I know you two have been friends for a long time, but do you actually like him romantically?"

"Yes, Dad. I had a crush on him way back when. That only went into the 'can't have that' file. It didn't go away. It's like when you see one of those trucks you'd love to have. Wanting it doesn't go away just because you know you could never spend $60,000 on a truck. I never stopped liking him. I just didn't do anything about it. Now, that I know he likes guys and me in particular, the 'can't have that label' got taken off. Just like if someone changed the price on the truck you want to $1. You'd get right in line to get one. He's really super sweet. He always has been. If he had realized he was gay back then, I'm not sure what I would have done because I wouldn't have wanted him to be treated the way I was. Maybe a secret boyfriend - I don't know. And it doesn't matter. He's here now. We're both adults now. What other people in Lima think doesn't matter anymore. I hope he doesn't get bullied at his new school, but I don't think it's that likely. The school has pretty strict rules."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, let's go eat whatever you're making for breakfast." He grabbed his coat and Kurt locked the door and followed him down the stairs.

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"Well, I guess I'm having whatever Sam is cooking because it smells good," Burt said as he walked through their apartment door.

"Well, it's eggs, turkey bacon, and toast."

"Sounds perfect," Burt said as he sat down at the table.

Kurt plated his food and took it to him. He walked back over to where Sam was cooking. "Thanks for starting everything."

"You're welcome. How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled is fine."

Kurt took over cooking the rest of the bacon.

"When did you boys go shopping? This place was barren last night."

"Oh, we got up early this morning and took Sam's car to a big grocery store and stocked up. Usually I just go to the small market down the street because it was too hard to go so far away just to save a little money. Trying to carry stuff back in a backpack along with carrying bags in my hands on the subway or while walking a long ways is hard to do. But since he brought his car with him, we'll be able to go out like once a month and stock up, and then just fill in with stuff from the place down the street."

"So, what's the plan today?"

"Well, we need to leave about 12:30 to take the subway to Soho and pick up the rental truck. We'll drive it to the loft where we're getting the couch. We'll bring the couch back here in the truck, and then return the truck to the drop-off in Bushwick and walk back home."

"Okay."

"So, we'll be back with the couch about 2:45. And then by the time we walk back home again, it will be about 3:30."

"How about I come and then I'll stay when you take the truck back."

"You want to go on the subway with us to Soho?"

"I want to see your life here, Kurt. I want to know about what it's like for you. So, yeah, I want to go with you on the subway."

"Alright then."

Kurt cleared the dishes and washed them once everyone had finished.

"So tell me about working at Vogue."

Kurt started talking and didn't stop until it was time to go to the subway.

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Burt held the door open for Kurt and Sam as the carried the couch in from the U-Haul. Then he went up the stairs and unlocked the door to the apartment and went right back down to sit in the truck. They brought the couch up and sat it down where they wanted it. Kurt grabbed a clean rag and got it damp and wiped the couch down quickly. Sam went back out to the truck to switch places with Burt.

Burt came in the room. "That's really nice couch."

"I like the way it looks. I hope it's comfortable. You can try it out while we're gone. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Kurt was out the door and back down to the truck in a flash.

He slid to the center position, even though Burt wasn't in the truck anymore. He squished right up against Sam. Sam gave him a questioning look. Kurt took his opening and kissed him.

"I see. Taking advantage of no dad around."

"Exactly."

"Good idea." He kissed Kurt again before he started to pull out to take the truck back. "Tell me which way to go. I don't know where the return location is."

"Why don't we just switch positions? It will be easier."

Sam put the truck in park and got out and went and got in on the other side and Kurt scooted over into the driver's seat. He pulled out and drove straight to the U-Haul lot. They got out, went inside to pay the bill, and left hand in hand to walk back.

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They got back to the apartment about 3:30, like Kurt had figured. Burt was napping on the couch when they got back. He woke up when they shut the door.

"Sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to let the door slip."

"It's fine. I don't want to sleep while you're here. The couch is comfortable. It's really nice." He sat up and let them sit down too.

"I like it."

"Me too. It's long enough to lie down on. And the cushions are pretty deep. I don't feel like I'm sitting on one of those kid-sized couches," Sam said.

"It's a man-sized couch," Kurt said in a deep voice and then started laughing.

"Well it is," Sam said elbowing him in the ribs, but not hard.

"So, what do you do around here for fun?" Burt asked Kurt.

"Well, fun usually costs money, so I avoid having any," Kurt teased. "Well, I'm me still, Dad. I read books. I read magazines. I watch makeover shows online. I do odds and ends alterations for people for extra cash. I watch British TV shows. A lot of the same stuff I did in Lima."

"You don't go out to, I don't know, dance clubs or anything?"

"Well, Rachel likes this place called 'Callbacks', but I don't care for it. You know I'm not the get drunk and party type. And I totally despise being groped, so I don't go out to dance clubs alone. I might go to an 18 and up place now that Sam's here, if he wants to go to one."

"So, what's the big deal about being here instead of being in Lima if you mostly sit at home and do the same things you did in Lima?"

"Well, I guess part of it is the freedom of being myself. I could wear the craziest outfit I've ever come up with and go out walking around and be assured that someone would be wearing something even crazier. I can walk around holding a guy's hand and I might get some looks, but overall people are more tolerant. I'm sure there are places and areas that are completely unsafe for gay people. I don't know exactly. I may not stay here forever. I may stay here long enough to go to school and then move on. I applied to a few places in upstate New York. I might go there if offered the right financial package. I just needed to go out into the great big world and be myself for a while."

"I heard how much fun you're having at Vogue, but why there instead of working as a mechanic where you could make so much more money?"

"Same thing. I wanted to try something new. This position is only for the school year. They hire new interns every fall. So, unless I get offered a regular position next fall that pays more, I'll more than likely go back to working on cars because I'll need to make more money working fewer hours. The lease here ends in August just like the one I had in the loft. The person who was living here broke their lease. The Super doesn't want leases that start at different times of the year, so we signed a 8-month lease with these two weeks in December as pro-rated for the time we've been here."

"I see."

Kurt got up and moved to the kitchen to start prepping dinner. Sam saw what he was doing and went to help. They all kept talking while Kurt and Sam prepped and cooked everything. Burt saw them working together as well as they always did at home. He smiled. Seeing Kurt happy made him happy.

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"Well, that was delicious, as always, boys. So, are we going to watch _Miracle on 34th Street_ or some other Christmas movie?"

"Why don't we see what's on Netflix and Amazon? Sam can you set the whole thing up while I wash the dishes?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later, Burt was looking through the choices. "We haven't watched this one in ages. How about _Frosty_ or there's _The Santa Claus_ or _Rudolph_. There's a bunch."

" _The Santa Claus_ is funny. We haven't watched that one in ages."

" _The Santa Claus_ it is, then." Sam left it up on the screen to click as soon as Kurt was ready. He went in the kitchen to help him finish.

Sam pressed play. Kurt turned off the lights and they both sat down on the couch. Kurt reached over and took Sam's hand and intertwined the fingers.

When the movie finished, Sam turned everything off.

"Well, it's been great being here with you two this weekend. Thanks for all of the great meals. I'll be heading out before breakfast in the morning. I'll be eating once I meet up with Carole and Finn, like I said before. I have a cab scheduled to come at 5:00."

"We'll be up to meet you and walk you out," Kurt said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'll have to lock the loft door when you leave. There's no way to lock it without the key."

"Alright then."

"I'll walk you upstairs too. Come on." Kurt grabbed Rachel's chair and took it with him. He unlocked the door to let them in. Burt walked in first. Kurt put the chair back up to the table.

"I'm really glad you came, Dad. I know it was a rough start, but I want to know about your treatments and how things are going. I'll try to do better about being more open about what's going on, but you have to do the same."

"I will." Burt pulled Kurt into a big bear hug. "I promise."

"Get some sleep. We'll be up here at 4:50 to walk you down and wait with you."

"Good night, kiddo."

"Night, Dad."

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They got up at 4:40 and walked up to the loft. Kurt locked the door behind them. Sam carried Burt's suitcase.

They waited outside for the cab to arrive.

"I'm glad we found that coat Saturday, Sam. I feel better knowing that you aren't going to freeze while walking to school," Burt said.

"Me too. It's really warm."

The cab arrived on time. Sam put Burt's suitcase in and Burt hugged both of them again and then got in the cab. They waved as he rode off.

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They hung up their coats, took off their boots and got back into bed. "Will you sleep on me like I sleep on you sometimes?"

"Won't I squish you?"

"I don't think so. You're only a little taller than me and I bet you only weigh like 20 pounds more than I do. Everyone thinks I'm so skinny, but I'm not. I just wear clothes that are a lot more form fitting than the rest of the guys, so I guess it just seems like I am a lot smaller. Some time, I'll show you."

"Is that a promise?" Sam teased.

"Whenever you're ready," Kurt teased back.

"Is that so?"

"It is. Come on. Please come over here and sleep on me. If you squish me, I'll say so."

"Okay." Sam scooted closer and lay on Kurt like he wanted.

"Mmm." Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam. "I like this."

"Me too."

"Don't worry. You're not squishing me."

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"Kurt, wake up." Sam kissed him on the cheek. "You're going to be late for work. You forgot to set your alarm when we went back to sleep."

"Sam, sweetie, lie back down. I'm off today. Snuggle me," Kurt said sleepily.

"Your wish is my command," he said.

"Oh, really?" Kurt asked provocatively.

"Maybe. I guess it depends on the wish, now that I think about it."

"I see, a conditional genie," Kurt laughed. "Maybe my luck improves if I rub the lamp."

Sam blushed.

"I'm just teasing you."

"I know."

"I'm so glad you are here. My life is just better when you're with me."

"Mine too." Sam kissed Kurt and the intensity built quickly. Kurt ended up on top of Sam, full on making out. Sam was bucking up.

Kurt pulled himself together enough to ask, "Do you want me to move off of you? I will if you want me to."

"Stay." Sam went back to kissing Kurt.

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Kurt's arms and legs were all wrapped around and intertwined with Sam's. Sam was very quiet and still.

"Are you okay?"

"So much better than okay. That was amazing!"

"You had me worried. You were so quiet."

"Just enjoying everything. I've never, well you know I've never done that with anyone."

"Me either. I've never done most of the stuff we've done. Snuggling, lying like this. Sleeping on someone. The spontaneous kissing and handholding."

"But you and..."

"Yeah, well he scheduled everything and we went the first 8 months with nothing more than barely more than chaste kisses."

"And then you know about the pact. He got drunk at Scandals and tried to force me in the back of his car."

"Oh, God. I didn't know."

"I know you didn't. I'm sure he would have been sporting a black eye at some point if you had found out."

"Damn right."

"No one else knows. He spent that whole evening dancing and flirting with Sebastian. I caved the next night because I was afraid of losing him. I was alone. I was back at McKinley where supposedly I was so 'wanted' that Santana bullied Dave into the Bully Whips to get me back. But once I was back, it was back to the usual 'ignore Kurt' status quo that had always been. He had taken Tony from me. Rachel was running against me for class president. I was at rock bottom. I was convinced I was destined to play the duly devoted supportive boyfriend role to my more desirable, less gay but still gay, boyfriend who was inherently more talented than I was and I felt like I had to do whatever it took to keep him. Sebastian took great pleasure in constantly reminding me that Blaine was too good for me - that he was going to seduce him away from me. I was too gay to be accepted by another gay teen. Sebastian was the second out gay teen guy I had met. He was as unaccepting as the straight jocks had been at McKinley. My self-esteem was pretty much gone. Right before the Jackson-off, he walked into the Lima Bean. Blaine, Artie, Santana, and Rachel were there with me. He walked straight up to us and one of the first things he said was something like, 'I almost didn't recognize you there, Kurt. You're wearing boy clothes for once.' Blaine said nothing. None of them did. That had gone on in private for months - since the week of the Scandals incident. He hung out at the Lima Bean just to harass me. And the taunts always included how Blaine was too good and I was going to lose him."

"Kurt..."

"I know. I know. I didn't stand up for myself enough. I mean I did snark back. I didn't just take his insults lying down, but unfortunately they burrowed into my mind, always there at the back nagging me that I wasn't good enough. Then Blaine stepped in front of me with the slushie. He dove. If he had just stayed out of the way, it would have hit my clothes, which were leather. It wouldn't have done much damage. I could have cleaned and conditioned it. But it hit him in the face and he had to have surgery. I didn't hear the end of how he sacrificed for me. Blah, blah, blah. Did you know he never got slushied at McKinley? I lost count after a hundred when I was a freshman. He stepped in front of what was supposedly a regular slushie once and he was a hero in his own mind."

"Wow."

"You know all of those cards, gifts, and flowers I got, and the Gorillagram for Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Those weren't from Blaine."

"What? Who sent them?"

"Dave."

"Karofsky?"

"The one and only. That's another long story I'll tell you sometime, but I've gotten way off track. Everything with Blaine was scheduled. There was nothing romantic or spontaneous or really 'fun' about it. All of this with you is amazing. We flirt, we tease, we laugh, we snuggle. You let me sleep on you. You seem to like being close to me."

"I do. So much. So, so much. I have a hard time keeping my hands to myself."

"Don't keep your hands to yourself on my account," Kurt teased again.

"Is that so?"

"It is. I happen to like your hands on me."

Sam moved to put his hands on Kurt. "How about here? Or here? Or maybe here?" Sam was moving his hands around random places and Kurt started laughing. And Sam started kissing him.

"Ooh. And your lips. I like them on me too," Kurt added.

Sam started kissing him everywhere. Kurt was wearing long sleeves and long pants pajamas, but Sam kissed him all sorts of places making Kurt laugh even more. "How about here?" Kurt's elbow. "Or here?" Kurt's temple. "Or here?" Kurt's bicep.

"Definitely all of those places." Kurt laughed even harder.

He moved to straddle Kurt and pushed his shirt up and blew raspberries on his stomach right after he asked "How about here?" again. He pushed his shirt back down and went back to kissing him on the lips. They started making out all over again and this time Sam ended up on top of Kurt.

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"Okay, okay. I have to catch my breath. Oh, my God. That was as amazing as the first time. You're going to be the death of me."

"Oh, I think you're young and strong and I think you're going to be just fine," Kurt teased.

"Oh, I'm way more than fine. But my pajamas aren't. And neither are yours. I need a shower."

"Me too, but you can go first."

Sam got up and went in the bathroom. When Kurt heard the water turn on, he went into the bathroom too.

"You need any help in there?"

"I'm pretty sure I've got it covered. I've been doing this all by myself for about 14 years or so."

"But it's so lonely doing it all by yourself," Kurt said coyly. "I'm sure it would be much more interesting if you let me help you."

"I've let you help me twice this morning already. That's how I ended up in here."

"Well, if you're sure, I'll just be outside waiting until it's my turn."

Sam pulled the curtain back a bit and Kurt saw his finger indicating for him to get in the shower.

"I don't want to pressure you. I was really just playing. I mean I do want to get in there with you, but I'm okay with waiting if you don't want me to or you're just not ready."

He was still being summoned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I was just playing around. Come on."

Kurt took his pajamas off and climbed in.

"You're right. You're not scrawny. You're all lean muscle. You just have narrower shoulders, probably from never lifting weights. You're gorgeous."

"I'm glad you think so. You are beautiful. Inside and out. Can I wash your hair?"

"Sure." Kurt took the shampoo and lathered Sam's hair up and massaged his scalp.

"God, you make everything sexy. How can you washing my hair be such a turn on?"

Kurt turned him so the water was flowing through his hair. Once the shampoo was out and his face free of residual shampoo, Kurt stepped forward and started kissing him.

"You can do mine, if you want."

Sam washed Kurt's hair next.

"Wow, that feels amazing." Kurt turned and stepped back to rinse the shampoo out.

"Were you serious that I can touch you?"

"Yes, of course. We might have been horsing around, but I wouldn't say something if I didn't mean it."

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"Clearly, we didn't think this through. It's super warm in here and totally freezing out there and we have no clothes to put on in here," Kurt laughed.

"Well, we don't have to wear clothes to get back in bed."

"True. Are you proposing we spend all day in bed?"

"Well, maybe not all day. But maybe just the morning."

"Alright. I'm going to run for it." Kurt darted out the bathroom door and got under the covers. "I'm not sure we have enough covers for sleeping without any clothes on."

"We'll just have to cuddle," Sam said as he followed Kurt and got under the covers, but he was still on his own side of the bed.

"It's a good thing that my new favorite thing to do is cuddle."

"Oh, really?" Sam scooted closer.

"Definitely. I had no idea how much fun it was. And I bet naked cuddling is even better."

"I don't know. I've never tried it." Sam scooted even closer.

"Me neither."

"I'm game if you are." Sam kept scooting closer.

Kurt kissed Sam, and then flipped over on his side. "I'll be the little spoon first."

Sam scooted up behind him. "This okay?"

"Better than okay. Way better."

They lay that way for a few minutes, but Kurt flipped back over. "I like being able to see you better." He scooted up as much as he could and wiggled to intertwine their legs and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck. He started kissing him again.

"I don't think I can go a fourth round in one morning."

"Kissing doesn't have to lead to that. I just like kissing you." The kissing resumed.

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"So how many days are you off?" Sam asked while they were eating lunch.

"Just today and tomorrow. I'm off next Tuesday as well. It won't be so bad once school starts. You'll have something to do again. Maybe you can go out and look for a job while I'm at work."

"I definitely have to do that. I have a month to find one. Hopefully, it won't take that long."

"So, are you ready for a _Stargate_ marathon?"

"Definitely. I'll clean this up and you can set everything up."

Sam washed the dishes and Kurt set everything up and brought the pillows and comforter from their bed and put them on the couch. Kurt started the DVD and snuggled up with Sam on the couch to watch. They spent the whole afternoon like that. It was the most enjoyable and relaxing afternoon they could ever remember having.

"If you died your hair back, you could totally cosplay as Daniel," Kurt said. "You'd need the right glasses though."

"It would be fun to go to one of the cons sometime."

"A future idea. Maybe we can save up and find a fun one to go to. You know I love to dress up."

"Do you want to watch more episodes or do something else?"

"Let's make cookies. We haven't baked together in a long time."

"Mmm. Christmas Eve Cookies. Good idea."

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They spent Christmas Day cuddled up on the couch binge watching Christmas movies until mid-afternoon.

"So, are we ready to make our first Christmas dinner together?"

"Completely ready. We got the stuff we needed Sunday morning - chicken, cheese, mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, broccoli. And we made cookies last night. I'm pretty sure we're set."

"Umm. There was something missing from your list."

"Really? What did I forget?" Kurt was legitimately concerned and started looking in the fridge.

Sam walked up behind him, pulled him back gently and shut the fridge. "I was being silly. You forgot the kisses."

"Oh, I didn't forget those. I have those with me here at home. I don't need to get them somewhere else." Kurt turned and kissed Sam. "See. Best kisses ever, right here at home."

Sam smiled and kissed him. "I see. I'd have to agree with your assessment of the quality of the home kisses."

"More cooking, less kissing or we'll never get dinner done."

"Kissing while we cook?"

"Deal."

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"I'm stuffed. We are good cooks, if I do say so myself," Sam said.

"I agree. Let's pack the rest of this stuff up and you can eat it for lunch this week."

Sam was being more of a distraction than a help, but Kurt was enjoying his affection too much to care. He has his arms wrapped around Kurt's waist while Kurt was attempting to put the food in some storage bowls.

"I'm going to go out tomorrow after you leave and look for a job."

"Okay. There are a lot of small shops around here. Maybe one of them is looking for someone. It would be a lot better than all of the commuting I'm doing. Some days, I really think I should just go to that repair shop about 8 blocks from here and apply for a job. It's not what I want to do, but I'd make more money doing it."

"Well, I guess it's always an option if something happens with the job you have. I think you have a lot of fun where you work now and that's worth something too."

"You're right. It is." He turned and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and kissed him. "Having fun is actually a lot more important than I had realized."

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Sam waited about an hour after Kurt had left for work and then went out looking around the neighborhood to see if anyone had "Hiring" or "Help Wanted" signs up. He found a couple of places and he took applications and put them in a folder in his backpack. They both only paid minimum wage, so he was going to keep looking for a couple of days.

He went to the odds and ends store that he had gone to with Kurt. He looked through boxes for a long time and eventually found one flannel fitted sheet and one flannel flat sheet and a warm blanket the right size for their bed. He figured he couldn't go wrong for $20. He also found a couple of battery operated "candles". He grabbed those too. He took everything back to the apartment and stripped their bed and washed both sets of sheets and the new blanket. When they were dry, he folded the original sheets up and put them under the bed in one of the storage boxes. He remade the bed with the flannel sheets and the new blanket.

He went to the library that afternoon and got his own library card and checked out a few audio books, some music CDs, and a couple of painting techniques books.

He made big salads for dinner and kept them in the fridge. When it was close to time for Kurt to come home, he cooked some spicy chicken and shredded it. He had everything ready to serve when Kurt walked in. He put on his English butler persona that always made Kurt smile and laugh. He took Kurt's coat and bag and put them away for him.

"I'm so glad you're home. Dinner's ready whenever you want to eat." He gave Kurt a big hug and held him close. Kurt relaxed and hugged him back.

"Thank you. You spoil me by cooking for me."

"Nah. I just have plans that I'm excited for and I want to get to them sooner. By having dinner ready, I can speed up the process."

"Sounds intriguing. Let's eat then."

Sam pulled their salads out and put them on the table. They ate and Sam told him that he picked up a couple of applications and Kurt talked about his day at work.

"Speaking of jobs - I had told Isabelle that you were looking for a job. And today she pulled me into her office and told me about a friend of hers who has a cousin who apparently lives somewhere near here who is looking for someone to watch her son after school from 3-6 every day."

"Okay. That sounds okay, if the person is going to pay enough for me to pay my share of the bills here."

"Well, the situation is unusual, so she's not found anyone yet. Margaret is the child's mother's name. She is a student - I didn't catch where. Blaze is 8. Margaret has not needed childcare very often up to this point because she's been able to take all of her classes while Blaze was at school. But this upcoming semester, she has to take do some type of internship or something and she has to do it from 2-5 every afternoon. So, she needs someone to pick Blaze up from school and provide care until 6:00, when she can get home."

"Sounds okay still."

"The reason she hasn't been able to find anyone willing to watch Blaze so far is because Blaze is transgender. He will be attending a new school this semester as a boy. None of the kids at the new school will know. The school has individual bathrooms in the classrooms, so that will not be an issue."

"That doesn't bother me."

"I knew it wouldn't. So, do you want to call them and meet Blaze and see if you two hit it off and talk to Margaret about the pay?"

"Sure."

"Okay. I'll tell Isabelle tomorrow and see when we can arrange to meet them."

Kurt picked up their bowls and took them to the sink and washed them. Sam grabbed them and dried them and put them back on the shelf.

"I'm ready for whatever it is that you had planned." Kurt was right behind him and bouncing up onto his toes like he did when he was anticipating something.

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"Wait here for a minute and close your eyes," Sam said. He left the kitchen and went in the bathroom and turned the candles on that he bought earlier. He had already set up the music before Kurt came home. Sam turned all of the lights off. "Keep your eyes closed." He took Kurt by the hand and led him to the bathroom.

"What you have planned is in the bathroom?" Kurt asked when he heard Sam open the bathroom door.

"Open your eyes."

"Oooh, cool candles. What are we doing in the bathroom?"

"Showering."

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"We have the same problem as the other morning, now."

"Not exactly. Take one of the candles and go get in bed." Sam grabbed the other one and got in bed too.

"Ooh. You got flannel sheets. They're soft."

"Not as soft as you."

"Sweet talker."

"Truth teller. There's an extra blanket between the top sheet and the comforter too. So, now we can sleep without our pajamas." Sam leaned over Kurt and started the music. "I went to the library and checked out some CDs and some audiobooks. Music first though."

Kurt wrapped his arms around him before he could get back to his own side of the bed. "Gotcha."

"You did. Now what are you going to do with me?"

"Kiss the stuffings out of you," Kurt said as he squeezed him a little and kissed him.

"You already did that in the shower," he teased.

Kurt laughed. "I suppose I did." He kissed him again and let go of his tight hold.

Sam scooted back to his own side of the bed and lay on his side. "You're not giving up on your plan are you?"

"Definitely not." Kurt turned on his side and resumed the kissing.

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"What audiobooks did you get?"

"Well, I got the first _Lord of the Rings_ book to start tonight." He climbed out of bed and switched the CD quickly and pressed play and got back into bed. He also turned off the candles.

"So your planned activity for the night is listening to books naked?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time. Do you not like it?"

"Oh, I like it. Maybe too much. I may never want to do anything else in the evenings. It might be a bit hard to keep a straight face the next time someone asks me my favorite hobby though."

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Thursday evening, Kurt, Sam, Margaret, and Blaze met at the skating rink. Kurt squelched down the flashback of Friday evening's unwanted gift. Margaret rented skates for Sam and Blaze. They headed out onto the ice while Margaret and Kurt found a place to sit and watch them.

"So you and Sam live in Bushwick. How long have you lived here?"

"I moved here the middle of September. Sam just came here almost 2 weeks ago."

"Oh. I figured the two of you had been together for a long time. You're really comfortable together. Not like a new dating situation."

"Well, that's because we've been good friends for 2 years. He lived with me and my family for over 10 months before I came here. He was still living with them until he came here 2 weeks ago."

"So, he's in high school."

"Yeah. He'll graduate in May. He's 18 already though."

They sat and watched as Sam showed off and Blaze tried to imitate him.

"He's good with kids, it seems."

"He has a little brother and a little sister. They're about 7 and 9. He used to take care of them a lot."

"What else can you tell me about him?"

"Well, he's a really good artist. He's applied to several art schools. It's just the wait and see game now. He's also really good singer and he plays the guitar. I guess one thing that might make a difference for you is that he's dyslexic. So, if you're looking for someone to tutor Blaze in addition to just caring for him, Sam might not be the guy you're looking for."

"Actually, Blaze is ahead academically, but he does want to learn to play the guitar. And he draws comics."

"I bet Sam would be willing to teach him to play. And I know he'd love to draw with him." Kurt pulled up a few photos on his phone. "Here are a few of Sam's paintings."

"Oh, he is really good."

Kurt nodded. "Oh, look. He's gotten Blaze skating backwards a bit."

Margaret laughed. "I'm the worst skater, ever. He always wants to come here, but I'm no fun for him to skate with because I just hold on to the edge trying not to break my neck."

Kurt laughed. "I love to skate too, but I figured this would give them a chance to see how they get along."

"I think Blaze is easy to get along with. He's outgoing and willing to try just about anything, which is scary as a mom."

"I bet."

"I have to ask the hard question. How much are you offering? Sam has to find a job that will pay his half of the bills on our apartment. So far, he's just found a couple of places hiring at minimum wage and not enough hours."

"Well, honestly, I'm not the one paying. But if you tell me what Sam has to make, I will do my best to get Blaze's dad to agree to whatever. He doesn't want to be a part of Blaze's life. But legally, he has to continue to support him financially. So, the whole thing is on a hush-hush basis anyway because he doesn't want anyone to know he has a kid."

"So, it's not because Blaze is trans, he just doesn't want anyone to know he has a kid at all?"

"I had an affair, not really an affair, Blaze's dad, Tom, wasn't married. But he was a professor and I was a student. I got pregnant at 19. He wants to keep his squeaky clean reputation. I just want Blaze happy. So, Tom usually just gives me whatever I ask for since I never ask for unreasonable things like a Mazerati or something. If I tell him that Blaze wants a guitar, he'll just buy him one. More than likely, he'll just give me whatever I ask for so that I can finish my PhD this semester. He pays his child support on time every month. He's the perfect non-existent dad."

"That's unusual."

"I know. I'm just glad that he does it. He knew I didn't want to have an abortion. He lived up to his end of the responsibility. So, you didn't answer about how much Sam needs to make."

"Well, at least $700 a month."

"That's doable. Would he ever be available on the weekends or evenings?"

"Possibly, especially if you don't mind if I'm with him. Do you have a problem with Sam being gay? Or me being around?"

"Nope. Blaze could use some guy time."

"Well, I'm definitely not the 'guys' guy' type. I work at Vogue and I'm planning on majoring in musical theatre or something similar."

"That doesn't make you less of a guy."

"Blaze is lucky to have you as his mom."

Sam and Blaze came skating up to the side of the rink near where Kurt and Margaret were sitting.

"Mom, I want Sam to be the one to watch me. He's cool."

"Let's go back to the apartment and you can show him your drawings and we'll talk about it, okay?"

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"So, this is Shara and her super power is that she can make dinner out of anything and it tastes good."

"Oh, I would definitely want her to travel in my group if I had to go on a quest. Anyone that could make bugs and snakes and weeds taste good would be someone I'd want in my group. Who's this?"

"That's Aldridge. He's blind, but he can read people's minds."

"Ooh, that's a scary good superpower."

"What do you mean scary good?"

"Well, I think it would be scary to be able to hear other people's thoughts all the time. But he could use the power to do good things."

"Hmm. I think you're right. Hearing what other people think COULD be scary, especially if the other person is a bad guy."

"Who's this?"

"That's Yohan. His super power is that he can tell when people are telling the truth."

"Good super power."

Margaret and Kurt were watching their interactions the whole time and smiling. She stepped backward a bit, "He's perfect."

Kurt just nodded and stepped inside the room and went to look at the drawings too.

"This one is Setrina. Her super power is that she can sing any song."

"That's a superpower?" Kurt asked.

"Sure, why not? It's something that hardly anyone or no one else can do. That makes it super."

"You're right. Absolutely right," Kurt said.

"Did you know that Kurt might rival Setrina's power?" Sam responded.

"Really?" Blaze asked completely intrigued by the possibility.

Sam nodded. "Ask him to sing something."

"Umm. Sing the Rudolph song."

"You known Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixon. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?..." Kurt kept singing until he finished the song.

"Sing the song about Santa Coming to Town."

"You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town..." Kurt sang the whole song.

"Mom, mom. Kurt can sing like Setrina," Blaze turned and said excitedly. "Did you hear him?"

"I did. He's very good."

"Can I ask you a question?" Blaze looked straight a Kurt.

"Sure."

"You're a boy, right?"

"Yes."

"But you sound like a girl when you sing."

"I can sing lower, more like a boy normally sounds. But my voice type is called counter tenor."

"Sing lower."

"Let me think for a second." Kurt paused before he started to sing. "Hey, clear the way in the old bazaar. Hey you, let us through! It's a bright new star. Oh, come be the first on your block to meet his eye. Make way. Here he comes! Ring bells. Bang drums. Are you gonna love this guy! Prince Ali, fabulous he. Ali Ababwa. Genuflect, show some respect. Down on one knee..." During the sections with different voices, Kurt changed his voice to match the ones from the original song.

"That was AWESOME. I think you're Setrina's twin brother or something."

"I guess anything's possible," Kurt said smiling.

"I hate to break up your fun, Blaze, but you need to get ready for bed. Sam, Kurt, and I are going to go talk in the living room."

"I have one more question, Mom."

"What?" she asked.

"You're both boys." He looked at each of them. "And you are boyfriends?" he asked Sam.

"Yes," Sam answered. "Kurt and I are both boys, and Kurt is my boyfriend."

"Neither one of you like girls?"

"Well, I like girls as friends. But not the way I like boys," Kurt answered.

Sam nodded in agreement.

"Okay. Bye, Sam. Bye, Kurt."

"Thanks for showing us your comics. They're really good," Kurt said as they left the room.

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Margaret quickly shared with Sam what she had told Kurt at the skating rink. She went on, "I'll talk to Tom after you leave. I'll call you later, if that's okay."

"Sure. We're usually up until 10:00 or 11:00, sometimes later."

"And just so you know, Blaze is very curious. Feel free to tell him that his questions are too personal or that you'd rather him ask me the question."

They both laughed. "We'll keep that in mind."


	4. Chapter 4

Sam's phone rang about an hour later.

"Hey, Margaret."

"So, Tom says that he's fine with paying $175 a week as long as you are willing to take Blaze to the new place I signed him up for swimming lessons, you give him guitar lessons, and you work on his art skills each week. And he'll pay the same rate if you watch him some evening or on a weekend occasionally."

"I can do that. Blaze will need a guitar and I'll need to know the address for the swimming lessons so I can look it up on a map."

"It's just down the street. It's easy to find. Tom is ordering him a guitar. It should be here by next week."

"Okay. No problem. When do you need me to start?"

"Well, I asked Tom for you to start right away so that I can get some research done during the break. Blaze is here keeping me entertained all day long. He's been very chatty all break. I think he's just super excited to be going to a new school where no one knows anything and he can be the boy that he is with no hassles. But while I am over-the-moon that he is so happy, I'm falling behind on my research. So, if you could come tomorrow and then every day next week from 1-4, that would be perfect. Once school starts the next week, it will be 3-6. Would that work?"

"Sure. I'll be over at 1:00 tomorrow."

"Excellent. We'll see you then. Bring swim trunks in case Blaze just wants to go swim for fun. His lessons are on Mondays and Wednesday from 4-5, but they start the same week that school does."

"Got it. See ya tomorrow."

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"So, you start tomorrow?"

"Yeah. But I'm still not sure I'm going to make enough to cover everything. I might have to get a weekend job too."

"I think we need to renegotiate our terms."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I want to spend time with you myself more than I want you to make another $100 to cover more of the expenses." He kissed Sam. "Come on, let's shower and get in bed and we can talk about it more."

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"So you want to get a new friends and family phone plan and split the cost and you want to change my car insurance so you can drive my car too and you'll pay half of the insurance. Plus, you're going to pay $500 and I pay $300 of the rent."

"Uh huh." Kurt said.

"Well, the first two sound reasonable, but the last part doesn't seem right at all."

"Well, you have to go to school. That takes up like 7 hours a day of your time. I'm not going to school right now. So, I can work more hours. Think about it this way. I was going to have to get a second job to continue to pay my half of the expenses in the loft. But since we moved in here, my expenses are going down by $400 a month, even if I pay $500 of the rent and you pay $300. When you graduate and you can work more hours, we'll split it evenly. Or if you want, you can still pay $400 of the rent and I'll just buy $100 of your groceries each month."

"I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

"It's not an argument. It's a 'please don't get another job, I want to spend time with you' pleading on my part." Kurt kissed him. "Please?"

Kurt started kissing down Sam's neck. "Yes, yes, whatever you want. Oh, God that feels good. I'll go to school and only work one job."

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Over the weekend, Kurt and Sam came up with a "Visit New York City" plan where they went online and looked up all of the cool places to visit in New York and made a list of the order in which they wanted to visit them, starting with the free places, giving themselves time to save up to buy tickets to the other places. The only exceptions were for places that were having exhibits that ended soon. They added those in the appropriate places so they wouldn't miss out.

On New Year's Even they braved the cold and crowds and went to watch the ball drop in Times Square since they weren't certain that they would be in NYC the next year. It was noisy and crowded and it was hard to stay together, but they managed it. They decided that it was a one-time event, something that was cool to say that they had done, but not something they would do again, even if they were in NYC in the future.

Isabelle called Kurt and asked if she could stop by briefly on New Year's Day afternoon. She showed up with a pizza and they ate and Kurt gave her the extremely brief tour of their apartment. She complemented them on their use of space, color, and their handiwork at turning the place into a comfortable living space so quickly.

Brody and Rachel came back before the semester started and Rachel has still not talked to Finn about her new living arrangements or broken it off with him permanently, much to Kurt's frustration.

Not long after the beginning of the year, Kurt and Sam got email invitations to Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury's wedding, with a list of songs they should learn and a couple solo/duet/group pieces they were requested to participate in. Both of them quickly sent back replies indicating that they would not be attending the wedding.

A few days later, Rachel came down and talked to them about it once their lack of participation had made its way through the New Directions gossip mill. Both of them remained steadfast in their refusal to go. Neither one of them wanted to go, plus Sam couldn't skip two days of school, nor could either of them could afford to miss two days of work. They were saving up to do things they wanted to do and spending time in Lima with people grilling them about what they were up to wasn't on that list. They stood firm against Rachel's barrage of reasons why they "just had to go."

Sam enjoyed watching Blaze and found his confidence boosted by teaching Blaze guitar and art. He began to see a little bit of what Kurt said he always saw in him. Sam had been hiding his true self from people just as much as Kurt had. The very first thing that Santana had said to him about having no game had hit him hard and he pushed to wear a mask covering over his dorky side. Any time he had let his fun-loving, sci fi geek, fantasy-loving self be seen, it didn't go well. Except for with Kurt. Kurt had always found the real Sam to be quite enjoyable to be around, crazy impressions and all. Blaze brought out all of the silly, fun-loving parts of Sam that he had been keeping locked away.

Rachel realized a few days into the semester that Kurt wasn't at NYADA. She came down and was absolutely flabbergasted that Kurt would defer his admission. Kurt just attempted to tune her tongue lashing out, but once she finally left, he fell into Sam's arms. That was the real turning point for Kurt when realized how much he had let Rachel dictate his life in order to maintain some semblance of peace. With Sam around, he was no longer alone and no longer felt the need to placate Rachel. It was liberating.

By the time a month had passed of Sam and Kurt being together, anyone who saw them would have been convinced that they had been together for years. There was such a gentle, comfortable feeling between the two of them that even without any outward signs of physical affection, their bond could be seen. For the first time in his life, Kurt began to let his guard down completely. He no longer had to protect himself from the person he was with. Sam no longer felt the constant need to watch his every word or action. He was free to be himself. Sam wasn't perfect. Kurt wasn't perfect. But they worked together. Sam's free spirit brought out Kurt's more fanciful side. Kurt's meticulousness helped Sam to keep his focus.

A couple of weeks later, their blissful insulated bubble of just being themselves and enjoying life was burst when Kurt received a text from Rachel on Saturday before lunch. He and Sam were out on the town enjoying a free art exhibit at a Midtown art gallery, which they were planning on following up with a picnic lunch they had brought with them to eat as they walked through Central Park. Santana had arrived and invited herself to live in the loft. She was doggedly questioning Kurt's obviously missing furniture and lack of his presence in the loft. Kurt knew that the end of his and Sam's private life had come.

Santana obviously figured out where Kurt was because he couldn't remain locked up in their apartment forever. Santana caught Kurt and Sam returning from an art event they had gone to the following Saturday. They did their best to remain stoic and resolute in their refusal to allow Santana into their apartment. She suspected that they were hiding a relationship and jabbed at them numerous times in her confrontation on the stairs. Eventually the neighbor across the hall opened his door and asked Santana to leave. She stomped up the stairs back to the loft.

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Kurt and Sam had seen the same guy with a varying group of people with him at several of the art shows they had been to over the past month. This time, the man got up the nerve to introduce himself.

"Hi, I just thought I'd come and say hello. We've been to a lot of the same events for the past several weeks." He extended his hand. "I'm Adam."

"Kurt." He shook Adam's hand.

"Sam." He also shook Adam's hand.

"That gaggle of people over there are friends of mine from school. I can always manage to get a few people to come with me. We all enjoy the arts, but are limited by our lack of funds, so I try to hit up all of the free places."

"We do the same. There are some places we're saving up to see, but we go to all of the free artsy things we can find on the weekends."

"Are you two students around here somewhere?"

"Oh, well, I'm finishing high school."

"I work at Vogue."

"I didn't expect that. I figured you were at NYU or somewhere. I saw you perform at the Winter Showcase. I expected you to be at NYADA this semester, but when I didn't see you, I figured you must have accepted a place somewhere else."

"You were at the Winter Showcase?"

"Your song was magnificent."

"Thanks. I did get offered a place for this semester, but I deferred it to the fall. I'm not sure that NYADA is the place for me."

"I can understand that. School is quite expensive to invest in if you're not sure you're in the right place."

"Someone I know from high school goes to NYADA."

"Rachel."

"Yes."

"I saw you sitting with her and Brody at the Showcase."

"Right. Well, I've been to campus and observed and I listened to Rachel all last semester. I've been unimpressed with some of the teaching. And to be honest, the way Rachel talks, it sounds like high school all over again. I'm just not interested in being demeaned and put on the spot continuously for $50,000 a year. I'd like to learn. I'd like to feel like I belong somewhere. I know that being a performer is all about competition, but it seems counterproductive for teachers to berate students rather than build them up by teaching them well. I had quite enough of that in high school. And Rachel talks about this hierarchy of the majors. And when I suggested she join something, I thought she might have a cow when I suggested a choir that had a fun looking poster in the school atrium."

"I see. That choir, would it be this one?" He unbuttoned his pea coat to show Kurt the front of his hoodie that looked just like the poster he had seen.

"That's the one."

"I'm THE Adam. Adam's Apples."

"Oh, oh. Sorry."

"No worries. It's not like I've never heard it before. The group of friends I bring with me - they're mostly Apples as well."

"I see. I didn't mean to be offensive."

"You weren't. Really. We're going to go out for coffee after this. Would you two care to join us? You can ask all the NYADA questions you want to give you a better idea about the school."

Kurt looked at Sam. Sam nodded. "Sure. Here put your number in my phone, in case we get separated at some point and I can't find you."

Adam took Kurt's phone and put his number in. He excused himself back to go look through the exhibit with his friends. Sam saw Adam look over at Kurt numerous times throughout the time they spent at the exhibit. He debated what to do about it. He didn't want to come across as a possessive jerk, but he didn't want Adam to think he had a chance with Kurt.

They met up outside when they were ready to go to the coffee shop. They walked as a group. Kurt and Sam followed along at the back. Adam held the door open as everyone passed through. Kurt quietly told Sam that he needed to use the restroom and left Sam standing in line. Adam was right behind him. Sam decided to seize the opportunity.

"Hey, Adam. I just want to be straightforward with you. Kurt's my boyfriend. I saw you looking at him several times and I can completely understand that because he's gorgeous. But he's with me. We live together in the same building as Rachel. He's one of the few things in this world that proves that being alive doesn't totally suck."

"Got it. You're right of course. He is gorgeous. His voice is angelic. I had hoped he would be joining the program at NYADA just to get to hear him sing more. And if he were single, I would totally ask him out and get to know him and see if there could be more. But rest assured, I don't try to take what's already spoken for."

Kurt walked up to Sam and Sam put his arm around Kurt's waist.

Kurt leaned around Sam and spoke to Adam. "Thanks for inviting us. We've never tried this place."

"My pleasure. You can grill all of us to your heart's desire over a lovely cup of coffee." Kurt took him up on his offer and learned a lot.

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On Valentine's Day, Rachel and Santana weren't around because they had left the evening before to head to Lima for Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury's wedding. Kurt loved the feeling of Santana being gone. She was a nuisance, always trying to butt in. He thought she was a pain in high school, but it was nothing compared to having her live upstairs from him and always trying to mess with his personal life.

Sam had noticed how much of a toll Santana's presence was taking on Kurt. He wished he could get off early to surprise Kurt, but that wasn't an option. Instead, he left a card he had made on the dining table before he left for school, along with two sheets from the variety store that were pale off-white with small burgundy geometric lines here and there. He had washed and dried them the last time he did their laundry. It was a strange gift, but Kurt would know what they were right away. Sam came home just a few minutes later than normal with what he needed to hang the curtains he was sure would be waiting or nearly done when he got home.

Kurt was at the door almost immediately when Sam unlocked it and came inside. Kurt nearly jumped him, but instead, he pushed him back up against the door, turned the doorknob lock, and started kissing him.

"The card is beautiful. Thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it."

"It's... Well, it's..." Kurt just kept kissing him instead of explaining himself, which Sam didn't mind at all.

Kurt noticed that Sam hadn't wrapped his arms around him and stepped back to realize that he was holding piping from the hardware store.

"I'm almost done. Come on." Kurt nearly drug him to their sleeping area, where he was putting button holes in the tops of the sheets. "You can help me iron them in just a minute." He leaned back and looked up and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and kissed him again. "Go figure out how we're going to get that to stay up while I finish."

Kurt finished the last buttonhole. He pulled out the ironing board and the iron and Sam came over and helped him keep the sheets from re-wrinkling. They put the shower curtain rings on that Sam had hidden in a box under their bed and 15 minutes later, no one could see into their living room.

"They're the most beautiful curtains ever," declared Kurt. "Thank you for searching to find some that look good in here. Now, Santana and her selfie-stick can take a hike. We can walk around in here naked if we want or dance or make out or whatever without her poking her nose in our business."

"I knew you'd know exactly what to do with them," Sam pulled him close and hugged him. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too. Your gift is in the oven. I made your favorite lasagna."

"The one with all the different kinds of cheese and veggies?"

"That's the one."

Sam hugged him tighter and kissed his neck. "You are awesome. Thank you."

"It will be done in about 15 minutes. Dance with me?"

Sam let him go and he turned some music on and came back. Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and they enjoyed the closeness of slow dancing.

"It's been exactly two months since I came to New York," Sam said.

"Mmm. And how have you found New York?"

Sam kissed him gently before answering, "Wonderful."

"Is that so?"

"It is. The man I love is here. How could it be anything less than amazing?"

Kurt stopped moving. "What?"

"Kurt, I love you. I have since before I came. I just hadn't gotten up the courage to tell you until now."

"Oh, my God, Sam." Kurt kissed him. "I love you. I hadn't said anything because I didn't want to put pressure on you. This whole thing, being with me, with a guy, was so new."

"So, we've both known for ages and said nothing? We are total dorks." Sam kissed up Kurt's neck until his mouth was up against Kurt's ear. "I won't keep it to myself anymore. I love you so much, Kurt."

Kurt responded by kissing Sam. A few minutes later their passionate kissing was interrupted by the alarm on Kurt's phone. He pulled his hand down and silenced his phone and continued kissing Sam as he walked backwards toward the kitchen. He stepped away long enough to pull their dinner out of the oven. He stepped right back into Sam's arms and they resumed their making out/dancing.

Once the lasagna had cooled enough to serve, they sat down to eat together.

"This is so good," Sam said clearly enjoying every bite.

"It really is. Mmm."

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Sam asked, "Movie or just make out to music?"

"Um, shower making out, then more making out to music."

Sam laughed. "Making out, shower making out, and more making out?"

Kurt was already kissing up his neck and lying on top of him on the couch. "Sure," Kurt said smiling.

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After a second shower to deal with the third round of making out, Sam and Kurt were lying in bed quite worn out from their evening's activities.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sam, you can ask me anything. You know that."

"Have you ever, well, been on the receiving end?"

"Oh. No, why?"

"Because I've been thinking about it, but the idea of it kind of scares me."

"Okay. Well you know, we don't have to do that."

"I know, but I kind of want to, but I have to tell you something first."

"Alright."

"Back when I was in Kentucky, you know what I was doing."

"Yes."

"Well, one night after I got off, a girl, a woman around 30 approached me in the parking lot. She asked me to..."

"Oh, Sam..." Kurt kissed him gently.

"I needed the money and I thought I could do it and I was in a bad place in every way. My family needed the money and I just...I said okay. She had condoms and we went behind the building where there wasn't really any light. There was no kissing or making out. She just turned around and wanted me to do it. I had trouble even getting myself hard, but I did and I put the condom on and took her from behind like she wanted. She got what she wanted and I came, but it was so awful. She paid me and left. She came back several times offering me even more money when I turned her down, but I just couldn't do it."

"Come closer." Kurt moved his arm so that Sam could lay his head on his chest. He wrapped both of his arms around Sam and held him tight. "I'm so sorry that you were in that position. I'm not angry with you, if that's what you thought would happen if you told me." He kissed the top of Sam's head. "I'm glad you came back to Lima."

"I was nearly failing school without you helping me. I was at rock bottom and all I could see that I had to offer was my body. I hated myself afterwards."

"That's what set you off that day in the choir room."

"Yeah, because what he said was true. It was the only way I could live with myself. I reacted so strongly because what he said hit home."

"I'm not upset with you. I'm sad for you, just like I'm sad for me - that our first times weren't for the reason we wanted them to be. Some people are okay with hooking up, but it's not for me and I don't think it is for you either. I let myself get caught up in a game of keeping someone who didn't really love me and who made a pact with someone else to get what he needed from me, and you let yourself get caught up in the fact that you needed the money. The way I see it, we both made the wrong choice."

"So, we're okay?"

"We're okay. You didn't cheat on me with that woman. If anything, you cheated yourself, but that can't be undone any more than the choice I made."

"I've been tested. I've been more than once a few months apart, just to be sure."

"I went after Blaine told me that he had cheated on me. I just couldn't bring myself to trust that he hadn't cheated while we were together."

"You want to hear something ironic? Tina still has me on her New Directions email list. Do you know what the Glee Club did as a fundraiser last month?"

"I'm sure I don't want to know, but tell me."

"She took photos of all of the Glee guys, topless photos, dressed in seasonal outfits and made a Men of McKinley Calendar to sell to raise money for Glee. And Blaine is in two of them half naked."

Kurt laughed. "How did they get that approved? The school has gone mad."

"I have no idea."

"Back to what we were first talking about. This time between us, I want it to be right. I'm not in a hurry, but whenever we're ready, I'll make sure it's enjoyable for both of us. Not like what you experienced before."

"Alright. I trust you."

"I love you. I know that was really hard for you to tell me. I will never tell another person, ever. You can stop worrying if you think I'll hold it against you. I won't."

"Okay." He nuzzled into Kurt's neck. "I love you too."

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Adam and Kurt hit it off and he became a regular at Kurt and Sam's apartment. He brought _Downton Abbey_ back into Kurt's life. Sam had to admit that he was glad to see Kurt having some fun. Kurt enjoyed his job and Isabelle was nice to him, but the other people he worked with tended to be on the snobby side and lived in much nicer areas of New York and weren't inclined to socialize with the barely-paid intern. Professionally, they were polite, but socially he was excluded. Sam had made friends with a few people at school, but didn't do a lot of socializing with them outside of school. Most of them worked jobs as well and had quite a lot of schoolwork to do when they weren't working.

Santana continued her efforts to get dirt on Sam and Kurt's relationship. After Kurt learned that Santana had gone through the loft, dumping out all of Rachel and Brody's stuff, Kurt got fed up with her nosiness and convinced the Super to allow him to pay a professional to install a deadbolt on their apartment door and provided the Super with the key and in no uncertain terms did he explain that Santana should NEVER be allowed to enter their apartment.

The curtains and the deadbolt gave Kurt a heightened sense of privacy, which helped him to feel less on edge, but he sincerely wished that Santana would just leave New York. Sometimes, she was just sitting on the stairs when he would come home from work. Other times she was hanging around the neighborhood. He see-sawed back and forth about confronting her, but he knew it would do no good.

She seemed to vanish for a while and then a few days later, he heard what she had been up to. Rachel tried to get Kurt to listen to her complain about Santana tailing Brody to see what he did in his free time, but Kurt stood his ground and told her to kick Santana out if she was fed up with her interference. She had let her move in and Santana wasn't paying any rent and her presence was keeping Rachel from renting out Kurt's space because Santana had taken it over.

Rachel confronted her and demanded that she either pay a third of the rent or move out, hoping that she would leave. But she said she would stop trying to chase Brody off and she gave Rachel rent money. So, Santana stayed. She started playing nice, which was more disconcerting to Kurt than her being her manipulative self.

Kurt just let it go and did his best to stop thinking about it. He was getting more anxious as time went on with Burt's cancer treatments. Sam did what he could to be comforting and Kurt appreciated it. Kurt made plans to go home for a week mid-March when Burt was set to receive the results from the three months of treatment he had been getting. Sam wasn't going to be able to go with him because his school's spring break wasn't until early April.

Kurt's OCD tendencies were really flaring by the time he left. Sam saw him bring home a pack of all light blue athletic socks, which was a dead giveaway that Kurt was about to crack. Kurt would never consider those socks to be appropriate attire for any situation. Sam just held him every night and did his best to comfort him. He really wished he could go along.

When Kurt got to Lima Friday evening, he quickly realized that Regionals was the next day. But what he couldn't figure out was why McKinley was competing since they had lost in the fall. Even if the Warblers had dropped out it didn't make sense because since the New Directions were disqualified, whoever had come in second place at Sectionals should be the ones to compete at Regionals. He was totally confused.

Since quite a few of the recently graduated Glee members were in town, somehow Kurt allowed himself to be roped into going to McKinley a few times. It did help a little to get his mind off of his dad, but Blaine's constant presence was too much. He went to get coffee with Mercedes and Mike on Wednesday only to find that Blaine was there as well. Why was Blaine skipping school to go to the Lima Bean? He was blatantly flirting with Kurt and kept trying to interact with him and Kurt didn't know how to make him stop.

He went to his dad's appointment that afternoon and was completely relieved to find that Burt was given a clean bill of health. The cancer was gone.

He got a text from Sebastian, of all people, asking him to come to Dalton to see the guys before he headed back to New York. It was an unusual request, but it had been a long time since he had seen Nick, Jeff, Trent, Thad, Flint and Richard. He figured, why not? He agreed to go, if someone would pick him up in Lima since he no longer had a car. He arranged it for the last day of his visit, which would be on Saturday. That way he could just go to the airport after visiting with everyone for a while since Westerville was so close to Columbus. He knew he could call a shuttle to come to the school if he had to. He had seen the students who flew in to school use them when he was there.

Jeff and Nick picked him up in Lima and they drove back to Dalton. Kurt let them do most of the talking. Nick and Jeff drove around to the side entrance, which was strange, but Kurt got out anyway. They followed behind him.

As soon as Kurt stepped inside, he was bombarded with Blaine singing, along with the Warblers. Nick and Jeff had jumped into their place in the formation as soon as they came through the door. Rachel, Mercedes, and Santana were standing on the other side of the foyer. Kurt stopped in his tracks. He walked directly up to Sebastian, grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of the building. He demanded to know what was going on.

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"Sebastian Smythe, you lured me here under false pretenses. You will walk inside and get Nick's keys and you will get my bags out of this car. I will meet you around front in the student parking lot."

Sebastian didn't move.

"Now," Kurt said with authority.

Sebastian jogged inside and Kurt took off for the front of the building. Sebastian pulled up in his own car with Kurt's bags in the back seat about 10 minutes later. Kurt was surprised that no one had come after him.

"Thank you," Kurt said as he opened the passenger door and got in. "Drive toward the airport and tell me what on earth possessed you to lie to me to get me to come to Dalton today. I thought we had buried the hatchet. You apologized to me. I accepted. I thought we were fine. I mean, I didn't have any false ideas that we would become friends or anything since you dislike me so much, but still. You LIED to me. Explain yourself."

"Well, I think we've both been lied to. When is your flight?"

"I don't have to be there for 4 hours. I had planned on spending the afternoon at Dalton enjoying a reunion with people that I THOUGHT were my friends or at least friendly acquaintances."

"Alright. Let's go find someplace to sit and talk." Sebastian drove. Kurt rode in silence. Sebastian eventually pulled off at a McDonald's.

"Seriously? You eat here?"

"Not really, but it looks crowded and easy enough to talk in that no one will be listening to every word we say. Your dad's a congressman. My dad's the state's attorney. I'm not going to go sit somewhere in a mostly empty place where everything we say can be overheard."

Sebastian got out and slipped his Dalton blazer off. He took off his tie and rolled his sleeves up. Kurt took his jacket and tie off as well. They went inside and ordered two coffees and sat at a table in a corner where they could sit close enough together to talk without speaking loudly.

"So, spill," Kurt said sternly.

"Well, here's what I know. You broke up with Blaine because you wanted to see other people New York, but then realized that you really didn't want that and Blaine planned this elaborate proposal and asked me to invite you so it would be a surprise. I thought I was doing something nice. You know, the new me that doesn't do mean things to people anymore."

"Well, that's debatable. Inviting someone to a surprise proposal isn't on my 'Top 10 List of Ways to be Nice to Someone'. Big, public proposals like that always put the person being asked in the position of not being able to say 'no' without a huge fallout. Lots of people invested time and energy into that today and I just basically took all their hard work and flushed it."

"I didn't see it that way because I thought you would totally love it. You were so determined to keep hold of him last year that I thought you'd be really excited that he finally went out of his way to do something FOR you."

"Well, here's the truth. I went to New York in the fall, which you obviously know. Two weeks after I had left, he cheated on me. I don't know with who, but obviously not you. I broke it off. Period. The end."

"What?"

"Did you need me to repeat what I said?"

"No. I'm just shocked, I guess is a good word. Did he like go out to Scandals or to a party and get drunk and make out with somebody?"

"No, it was more like he went out and let a random fuck him," Kurt said very quietly.

"Now that, I did not expect."

"Well, I obviously did not expect it either and he about ripped my heart out. I forgave him because I couldn't live so angry. I let the anger go might be a better description than forgiveness. Whatever the terminology, he's not part of my life and will never be part of it."

"Well, you'll be unhappy to hear the rest of what I know, then."

"Do tell."

"He got into NYADA. He said that you were starting in the fall as well. He's moving in with Rachel and you will be in classes together and live in the same building or that Sam could move in with Rachel and he could move in with you. Whatever the arrangement, he has it all planned out. He's moving to New York the day after graduation."

"Great, just great. That's in like 10 weeks. Wait how does he know already? Our auditions weren't even until May last year."

"That must have been some fluke. Colleges never hold auditions that late. Acceptance letters get sent out by early April at the latest. Anyway, he has this whole love story planned out."

"The big problem with his planed love story is that I'm not in love with him. He's not part of any plan that I'm ever making. Tell me about why the Warblers didn't participate in Regionals."

"We competed in an a cappella competition last fall as well as the Show Choir Sectionals. We won both. Early in the semester we voted to continue with the a cappella competition and we dropped out of the Show Choir Regionals because for the first time ever, they were being held on the same day in different cities. When we had chosen to compete in both in the fall, the regionals competitions for the two groups had never been held on the same weekend before and of course we didn't have the Show Choir Regionals date yet because they set them depending on venue availability in, what, February or something? Anyway, we had to choose between the two and we choose the a cappella competition, which we won."

"Congratulations. You did what I never managed to do."

"Which was?"

"Get the Warblers to dance. I tried. Wes was very into tradition - the shuffle step, move around as a group on stage."

"Yeah, that wasn't going to win us any competitions."

"Well, you did a good job with them last year."

"Thanks."

"I don't understand how New Directions ended up competing since they were disqualified at Sectionals. Shouldn't the second place team have competed in Regionals?"

"I can't explain it. I have no idea."

"So where are you headed to this fall?"

"Well, I've been accepted at Columbia, my father's alma mater. But I've also been accepted a few places that he doesn't know I applied to. I'm debating my life choices. Family money and Trust funds are very powerful tools of manipulation."

"I see. So, play by your father's rules, he pays the bills. Otherwise, you're on your own."

"You got it."

"How long do you have to play the game?"

"You are spot on with the relevant question. Seven years - 'til I'm 25."

"So, four years of college, two or three years of what law school?"

"Bingo."

"Or?"

"Or I go back to France, be and do what I want. Forego the Smythe fortune and make my own way."

"Well, I know what I would pick."

"You'd go back to France."

" _Bien sûr_."

"It's a LOT of money."

"Selling your soul is costly."

"You are fun to talk to."

"Well, you're the one that decided we had to be enemies last year. I haven't changed."

"Oh, but you have. You're not holding onto Blaine like a life raft like you did last year."

"That was an unfortunate blip in my life. Before I met him, before I had to transfer, I was as outspoken as I am now. Having someone threaten to kill me and then transferring to the 'Stepford Sons School of Conformity' clouded my eyes for a while. Having the person everyone considered to be so perfect and wonderful let someone fuck him and then blame me for it cleared my vision."

Sebastian started laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. "That is by far the best epithet I have ever heard for Dalton."

"Well the students at McKinley called it 'Gay Hogwarts'."

"Nah. Generic. Yours is FAR better." Sebastian was still laughing.

"Well, I can tell you from experience that choosing what everyone else thinks is best for you isn't always what is actually best for you."

"And you gained this life experience how?"

"My new boyfriend is dirt poor and wouldn't necessarily be on people's list for best at anything."

"I see. And you are happy?"

"Definitely. Look, I'm not saying that studying whatever it is that your father thinks you should study at Columbia and then going to law school is the wrong choice."

"I get it. The question is whether I'll be happy with following that path."

"Exactly."

"So, how did you meet Mr. Makes-You-Happy? Wait. I know who it is."

"Sebastian, you can't tell anyone. He's not out to people here. That's your penance for luring me to Dalton under false pretenses, even if you thought you were being nice."

"I don't out people, Kurt. I may have been a jerk last year, but can you honestly say that you would have been the model of kindness if you had been forced to move to a country you didn't want to live in and finish school without the friends you'd had your whole life? I'm sorry I was awful to you. You know that I apologized. I was in a permanently pissed off mood last year until I realized that I was potentially making other people's lives as miserable as mine by behaving like I did. I knew I was being an ass to you, but I swear to you that I didn't know that your life had been threatened. I honestly just had fun picking at you because you argued back. I mean seriously - I had to look up what Craig's List is. You just admitted that I've been forced to attend 'Stepford Sons School of Conformity', wasn't it? I certainly can't snark with anyone there."

Kurt laughed. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that you were forced to come here against your will and now you're being coerced into going to a university you may not be interested in attending to study something you don't want to study. I don't wish enslavement or indentured servanthood, or whatever you want to call it, on anyone. I know that what you're basically being forced to do is some people's absolute dream, but that doesn't make it your dream."

"I'm sorry I bought into the lie of the great Blaine Anderson. I was fed a non-stop diet of how he was the most amazing guy ever - the best lead singer the Warblers had had in ages. You led him away from his rightful place at Dalton. I mean the legend of his greatness lives on. Hunter stole the New Directions National's trophy and tried to lure Blaine back to Dalton this past fall. He had us sing and gave Blaine a new blazer and everything. I was the new guy last year. I had no reason to doubt them. They wanted him back, so I tried to lure him back. Hunter tried too. They're all under Blaine's spell."

"Clearly. Since not a single one of you bothered to find out if his story was true. I came today because I was stupid enough to believe that the people I had once thought at least liked me wanted to see my while I was in Ohio. But no, it was just another afternoon of attempted manipulation on his part. You know he lied to my dad too. My dad brought him to New York as a surprise Christmas gift for me."

"Wow. You must be one helluva a lay to go to so much trouble to get you back."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kurt laughed.

"Bawdy too. I like this." Sebastian smirked.

"You would. What I had was an uncanny ability to overlook his bullshit and pretend that he was Prince Charming, all while forgiving him for continuously shoving me out of the spotlight."

"Well, then. Since you've obviously overcome those problems, now he's hard up for some hero worship?"

"I'm guessing he hasn't found anyone else willing to put up with his incessant need to be the center of attention every waking minute of his life. I don't know why he didn't go back to Dalton when Hunter was trying to lure him there, other than the fact that he thought he had a better chance of getting to Nationals with the New Directions."

"Well, I'm sure that they've been consoling him the whole time we've been here."

"I'm wondering what on earth he told Santana, Mercedes, and Rachel to get them there looking happy. Santana and I have been butting heads ever since she moved to New York. I had to put curtains up in my living room and a deadbolt on my door to keep her from nosing around. Mercedes and I haven't really kept in contact much and Rachel's been off my friend list for about three months. Rachel knew Blaine cheated on me. I figured she had told Santana, but maybe not. Mercedes didn't know as far as I know. I only told my dad at Christmas because I didn't want to spend the weekend with Blaine."

"Why did you let him overtake your life?"

"I was alone. Really alone. I couldn't tell anyone what I had been threatened about."

"Can you now?"

"Well, the gist of it is that I found out something about someone they didn't want anyone to know, and not because I was snooping. They threatened to kill me if I told anyone. This person was already physically bullying me on a daily basis - locker slams hard enough to knock me to the floor. So, I believed the threat. Not that I had planned on telling anyone, but the level of bullying kept escalating. I was covered in bruises. I didn't know how long it would take for this person to just snap and really hurt me even though I kept their secret."

"And this happened at school? And they didn't get expelled?"

"The person got expelled, but was almost immediately reinstated when their parents went to the school board. Being gay always made me on the wrong end of the rules."

"My dislike for public school continues to grow."

"A lot of the Glee club felt like I left without a good reason. Some of them thought I left because I had met Blaine. He was my lifeline, the one person who tried to make me feel at home at Dalton. And his main lesson was that in order to feel at home was that I needed to assimilate. I was told 'we all wear blazers for a reason'. I was told to do a better job of not sticking out. That's what I had been told my whole life - that I was wrong. When I couldn't even manage to be accepted for myself when wearing exactly the same thing as everyone else, I sort of just caved and lost who I was. The one thing McKinley had never managed to strip me of, I gave up willingly at Dalton - my individuality."

Sebastian listened intently.

"You know, you were the second openly gay teen I had met and you lost no time in telling me how I was too gay to be accepted by my own kind. I had already stooped to giving my own boyfriend flowers for getting the role he told me he would not audition for. Then you came along and started flirting with him constantly telling me that he was too good for me. How was I NOT supposed to believe that? I'm the son of a mechanic. Blaine's family has money. I caved again to keep him."

"And all I saw was you were this amazingly strong out and proud guy who had the guts to dress like you belonged on a runway while living in Hickville, Ohio. Your mask never wavered. You came at me with guns loaded every time, snark for snark. To me, Blaine was this guy that everyone loved. He was willing to give up a great school to be with you. You were the strong one. I had no way of knowing that he had taken Tony from you. At the time, you were as vested in holding on to him as the Warblers were in getting him back. From the outside looking in, all I could think was he must be a helluva catch, right?"

"Right. Everyone loves Blaine. And I was lucky that he wanted me. That was how it went. He was the great catch and I should be glad that such an amazing guy would deign to date me."

"Well, he put together quite the show for you this afternoon. You left before you saw it."

"Dear God, there was more than just the Warblers serenading me with him on lead and the three girls?"

"If you had walked on through the doorway, the New Directions were going to line up along the right side of the hallway while we repositioned ourselves along the left. You were to be led through the lines down to the next room where Vocal Adrenaline was dancing and singing, fluffy blue dresses and all. The staircase was lined with students from the Havers-whatever Deaf School signing the song and by the time you got to the bottom of the staircase, the New Directions and Warblers would have reassembled at the bottom of the stairs."

"Well, he gets an A for effort."

"Look, I know I've screwed up about a hundred times too many to be asking this question, but can we just start over? No assumptions. We talk, we learn things about each other, and we see if we can be friends. I am obviously in need of non-Stepford friends - people who aren't blinded by their loyalty to their own trust funds."

"You mean people who pay their own way and who work as lowly interns at Vogue?"

"You got an internship at Vogue? That's impressive."

"Thanks. I'll go back to working on cars in the summer. The internship is just for the school year. I'll need a better paying job once I start school. I have to work full time to cover my bills right now. Going back to working as a mechanic, I can cut that in half."

"What will you do about school if you're going to have to deal with Blaine every day at NYADA?"

"I applied to other schools this fall. I'm going to base my choice on financial feasibility versus the program benefits. I've visited the places I applied to in New York City and I'm going to take a trip to upstate New York where I applied to a couple of places as well. If you didn't have a trust fund carrot hanging in front of your face, what would you do?"

"I'd go back to Paris and study violin."

"I didn't know you played."

"I do. I could do it. I got in to Julliard. My dad doesn't know I applied."

"That's amazing, really. Congratulations. But he won't pay for you to study music?"

"Right. I'm to be a lawyer, like him."

"What does your mom say?"

"Well, my mom is not well off and the allure of money is hard to resist."

"I see."

"Will she disown you if you choose music?"

"No, but she'll think I've lost my mind."

"So, you're seriously considering 7 years of indentured servanthood to claim your trust fund and then what? Study music instead and be a musician and get the money?"

"It's crossed my mind."

"Is it that much money? Sorry to be nosy."

"It is."

"Have you read the fine print? Are you sure you'll get the money if you change your career? I mean is it set up so you get a certain amount of it per year so that it takes 10 years to get all of it?"

"I never thought about it. I need to find that out. I'm positive that I can't hold out for 10 years as a lawyer."

Kurt and Sebastian sat and talked for long enough that Kurt got hungry enough to order a salad and Sebastian ordered a chicken sandwich. Eventually, they had to head on to the airport so Kurt wouldn't miss his flight. Sebastian stopped in the passenger drop off area and got out to help Kurt get his bags. Kurt sat them down.

"Don't forget that you're planning your life - the one you have to live." He hugged Sebastian, to his surprise. "Call me if you ever want to talk to someone sane."

Sebastian laughed. "I will."

The fact that Kurt left Ohio counting Sebastian as a new friend was the most surprising part of his trip.

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Kurt arrived in New York late that evening. Sam was at the airport waiting for him. When Kurt saw him, he practically ran and threw himself into Sam's arms.

"I missed you so much."

"Let's get going and you can tell me all about it on the way home."

"You won't believe half of what I'm going to tell you."

"If it involves Lima, I most certainly will. That place is crazy."

Kurt told Sam everything that had happened on the cab ride back to their place. They got out and grabbed Kurt's bags and headed upstairs. Sam opened the door and they went inside and locked the door behind them.

"So, your dad is fine, Blaine tried to propose to you, and you are friends with Sebastian now?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it."

"Totally crazy, except the part that your dad's okay. That part is awesome."

"I agree."

"So we only have until the end of school before Blaine's coming?"

"That's what Sebastian said."

"That leaves two months on our lease with him living upstairs? I don't think I can do that, Kurt. I'll just want to go up and punch him every day."

"Well, he's even testing the limits of my non-violence stance. Proposing to me? With the help of 4 choirs?"

"That's only fun if both parties have already agreed that they want to get married and one of them challenges the other to come up with the most outrageous proposal or something."

"I agree. I'm honestly not sure how to handle this, but some of it is my fault."

"What do you mean?"

"We're back to lies of omission or just lack of factual information or something. If I had been upfront about my break up with Blaine, most of those people would have never participated in a proposal like that. If I had publicly stated 'I broke up with Blaine because he cheated on me and I am never getting back together with him' on Facebook or something, then I don't think that the Warblers would have participated. I don't think Mercedes or Mike would have been there."

"But you said that Rachel was there."

"That's true. I'm guessing that Blaine lied to her, to all of them. But if everyone had known that I had ended it permanently, I think there would have been fewer people willing to swallow his lies."

"Possibly."

"It's just a mess - all of it. I'm tired of thinking about it. I just want to shower and go to bed."

"Well, that I can help with," Sam smiled and led Kurt to their bedroom.

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"Being back home with you is perfect," Kurt said as he was snuggled in bed in Sam's arms that night."

"We'll work on a solution. Being with you is home to me. I won't let that be taken from me. I'll graduate by the time he does. If we have to, I'm sure your dad would loan us the money to pay out our last two months here to just be free to live without HIM around."

"I'm sure you're right, even though I wouldn't want to have to do that. It would be better than living here with him interfering in every possible way. Once my dad finds out what he did at Dalton, he's going to be really mad."

"I was thinking while you were gone."

"About what?"

"I'm done hiding. I want Santana to back off, but she's not going to as long as she thinks there's something to be found. When they come back, I'm just going to walk upstairs, knock on the door, tell Santana that I'm gay and walk back down here. If she outs me to everyone, so what? If people don't like it, I don't really care."

"Are you sure?"

"I kept it quiet to avoid people trying to interfere. They're interfering anyway. Maybe if we just tell people the truth, there will be nothing left for them to be so nosy about."

"Trust me, people will continue to be nosy."

"I just don't care anymore." Sam started to peppered the back of Kurt's neck with tiny kisses. "You are who I love and want to be with. I'm not even going to spend five more minutes of my life with most of them. So, let them say what they want. I don't have to hear it or read it. I can hit delete and never read a single email should they decide to pester me that way. We were talking about getting a new cell phone plan. I can just get a new number. And that way only people I actually want to be in contact with will be able to get in touch with me."

"That's a good idea. So, is the kissing. Don't stop."

Sam went back to kissing Kurt's neck and shoulders.


	5. Chapter 5

The next afternoon, Kurt and Sam could hear Santana and Rachel returning to the loft. They decided to give them 10 minutes to put their stuff down before going upstairs to talk to them.

They walked up to the loft and Kurt knocked. Rachel pulled the door open.

"Kurt," she said dismissively.

"Rachel."

Sam and Kurt walked into the loft. A silent stand off occurred for a few minutes before Kurt moved and sat on the sofa. Sam sat next to him.

"Rachel, please sit down," Kurt said.

"And you too, Santana," Sam said a little louder so she would come out to the living room area.

Kurt spoke first once they were both seated. "Santana, in case you were unaware, Blaine cheated on me two weeks after I moved here and I broke up with him. End of relationship."

"Interesting story, but not what I heard."

Rachel spoke up. "That's true. I was with him the night that Blaine came to New York and told him that he had slept with someone else."

"What?" Santana asked.

"So, what was the version of events that you were told Santana?" Rachel asked.

"That he had a minor indiscretion, but that you had forgiven him by Thanksgiving and that you two were just waiting to reconcile until you were living in the same city again, meaning when he comes to New York after he graduates."

"Not true. At all," Kurt said adamantly.

"Well, as far as I know, that's what everyone thinks," Santana said.

"So, why have you been spying on us constantly?"

"Oh, he offered me money to tell him if you were seeing other guys."

"So, I was supposed to remain faithful to someone I had broken up with?"

"I think it was supposed to be like a mutual celibacy pact, but who am I to judge. You were celibate before you met him. It didn't seem so far fetched."

"Rachel, why would you participate in that circus yesterday? You were here. You knew he had ripped my heart out. You knew the truth."

"But after Thanksgiving you were happier and you were back to yourself. I thought his story of forgiveness and reconciliation was true," she answered. "It's not like you've been talking to me the last three months."

"And I suppose that means that you have been talking to him the last three months."

"Of course. When you got into NYADA, he applied. And he got in. The auditions were much earlier this year. Last year was unusual because there was no dean when the auditions should have been held and they were held very late in the year."

"So, you've been operating under the assumption that he and I have been a 'waiting-to-reconnect' couple for the last three months and that as soon as he's here, we're getting back together?"

"Yeah, Porce. He wants us to swap up roommates and him live with you in the smaller apartment downstairs and Sam can move up here with us and have his own space when we rearrange the layout a bit. He offered to help with the cost of building some temporary walls or something."

"I bet he did," Kurt said sarcastically.

"So, you showed up yesterday and hauled the Criminal Chipmunk out of Dalton and vanished, leaving four show choirs with no one to perform for. And embarrassed the hell out of your soon-to-be-boyfriend. Care to explain?"

"Well, as I've already said, what you were told is a figment of Blaine's imagination. We are not together in any way, and haven't been since I broke up with him over five months ago. I do not take cheaters back. It was not a simple indiscretion, unless letting someone fuck you has slid down the ranks of offenses without me knowing it."

"Well, Lady Lips, I don't think I've ever heard you say that word," Santana snarked.

"Well, Santana, no one has ever cheated on me before since Blaine was my first boyfriend. I am perfectly capable of saying any word that fits the circumstance. Letting someone you're not in a relationship with put his dick up your ass qualifies as fucking."

"I'd say so," Santana agreed. "So, there is no upcoming reunion," she stated.

"No. Never."

"Got it," Rachel said.

Kurt turned to Santana. "Stop spying on me. I'm done being some type of game for you."

"Okay, but I needed the money."

"Your problem, not mine. Find someone else to spy on for pay."

"And as for my not speaking to you Rachel, you've had three months to inquire about that, but I will speak to the issues."

"I found out about your pact with Blaine regarding _West Side Story_ , which made me lose my trust in you."

"What pact?" Santana asked.

"Rachel? Do you want to answer her or should I?"

"Artie said that Blaine and I weren't believable as sexually awakened characters because we were both virgins."

Santana laughed. "Go on."

"So, he and I decided that we should change that."

"Oh, my God. So, what did you do? Try to seduce Finn? I would pay good money to see that." Santana was cackling.

"Also, I am uncomfortable with you leading Finn on. He's my stepbrother. It's easier if I know nothing about your life than to have to watch every word that I say so that I can remain truthful to a family member. You told him at the wedding that you and Brody have an open relationship? What does that even mean? You're okay with Brody sleeping with other girls while he lives with you? That he'd be okay with you sleeping with Finn? Don't answer that. I don't want to know. I can't lie to my family. I can't be in the middle of your soap opera. Right now, we just can't be close. I don't know if we ever will be in the future, but you making a pact with Blaine about something that involved my body went way over the line of what a friend would do."

"But you two loved each other."

"Maybe we did, maybe we didn't. Either way, anything that didn't have to do with your own body wasn't within your choices to make. If you wanted to do that for your own purposes, then that was on you. But involving my body was just wrong and the fact that you still can't see that is really bothersome to me."

"Kurt's right. Whether he wanted to have sex with Blaine should have been up to him. There shouldn't be any pact making about what someone else thought Blaine should do. Artie shouldn't have suggested that. And you shouldn't have agreed to it with Blaine. Whatever reasons you had for holding out on Finn may not have been the reasons that Kurt wasn't sleeping with Blaine."

Kurt spoke again. "Anyway, I just feel like I don't know you anymore, Rachel. You've become the most diva version of yourself since the Winter Showcase. You have sycophants at NYADA. Those people are attracted to the most shiny object at the moment. The minute you fall from grace for whatever reason, the minute something shinier comes along, they'll flit off following it. You don't need people to stroke your ego Rachel."

"Amen," Santana raised her hand.

"You need people to keep you grounded. You need to focus on being the best you - honing your skills, not resting on your laurels."

Rachel looked indignant.

"What Hobbit? He's right. You're good. You've always been good. But anyone who thinks they're the best without working at it is seriously delusional," Santana said.

Rachel still didn't say anything.

"So, knowing what you know now, are you still planning to let him move into the loft with you? Because there's no way, he's moving into our apartment. Sam is not moving to the loft."

"I don't know. I have to think. We've made a lot of plans."

"Yeah, plans based on lies," Sam spoke for the first time.

"Why did you come here?" Santana asked.

"Why did YOU come here?" Sam asked her back.

"You first."

"I didn't pass those standardized tests again last fall. I wasn't going to graduate again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, I should have graduated with you guys, but through a series of things that went wrong, I did not. If I had passed those tests, I could have graduated mid-term. There was no point in me staying in Lima. Kurt found a school here that would help me and that's where I go to school now. I'll graduate this semester. I've already applied to colleges. You?"

Santana answered, "I hated it in Louisville. I don't really like school. I had no idea what I wanted to study. High school was easy. Take whatever I had to and pass. In college, I was supposed to choose a major and then take classes to fill a lot of requirements. It just wasn't for me. I'm a natural performer. I came here to see what I can make of myself."

"Fair enough," Sam said. "But stop spying on us. I'm just going to tell you both because you live in this building and I'm tired of the stress. Kurt and I are together - as a couple. We have been since I came here."

"What?" they both asked.

"I'm gay. Kurt's my boyfriend. We've been together three months."

"No way," Santana said with a gleam in her eye.

Sam leaned over and asked Kurt quietly, "Can I kiss you?"

Kurt nodded.

Kurt turned his head and Sam leaned in and kissed Kurt passionately.

"There's all the dirt you're getting. Go ahead - sell your info to the highest bidder. Whatever. Things were really easy before you got here sticking your nose into everything Kurt does," Sam said.

"Oh, wow. Lady Lips and Trouty Mouth."

"Whatever Santana," Kurt said, seriously annoyed with her continual use of effeminate epithets. "My name is Kurt. You may call me that. It is what I will answer to. I don't even mind Porcelain that much, but stop calling me 'Lady' anything unless you want a nice full frontal view to prove your word choice to be inaccurate."

Sam chortled and snorted from laughing so hard.

"Not really into that these days," Santana pointed out as she stared at her nails.

"Well then, keep your effeminate names for me to yourself from now on."

"You're in ice queen mode."

"Again, with the girly names already?" Kurt stood and reached for the button on his pants.

Sam turned to face him.

"I think Sam's the only one interested in you taking your pants off, KURT," she enunciated his name quite clearly while smirking.

"Much better." He sat back down.

"Anyway, I've heard about Kurt junior. Quite impressive. I'm sure Sam is pleased," Santana snarked.

Kurt looked confused.

"Just because Brittany never managed to cop a feel because you kept pushing her hand out of the way, didn't mean she couldn't get a good idea."

"Okay, enough of that. You know what? Even if I didn't have a dick, if I say I'm a guy, then I'm a guy. I could be trans or I could be intersex and I would still be a guy if I said I am. I could be either one, but I'm not. What I am is a cisgender gay man who is fed up with your effeminophobic nicknames." Kurt state emphatically. "Anyway, back to what we were talking about. I would kindly ask you two to give me your answer on what you decide to do about letting Blaine live here once you've decided. I will not live in the same building with him."

"Alright, Kurt," Rachel said. "I'm still not sure what to do. I gave my word."

"To a liar. Remember that part when making up your mind." Kurt stood. Sam followed suit. They left the loft and went back downstairs to their place.

0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0

They went inside their flat to grab their coats to go out, but Kurt grabbed Sam's hand and spun him around. He kissed him soundly.

"Thank you for asking up there and not just kissing me without warning."

"You aren't an object to put on display, no matter how gorgeous you might be." Sam winked at him.

"Mmm." Kurt kissed him again. "I appreciate that."

"I just wanted to put an end to her nonsense. She can go tell everyone she saw us making out for all I care."

"She probably will. She has to end her spy contract with Blaine. I never want to hear his name again."

"Well, then his name shall be banished."

"It shall, shall it?"

"Most certainly. This is our realm, we can decree whatever we like," Sam said in his best Arthurian voice.

"Well, I was going to go out and get our phone numbers changed, but you are seriously adorable and making me totally want to pull you to the sofa and make out with you."

"Well, given how much gossip fodder we just provided Santana with, I say we opt for the judicious choice and go change our phones. We can come back and make out the rest of the afternoon if you want."

"Mmm, tempting. But you're here," Kurt walked him backward, "and I'm here," he kept moving so Sam had to take steps backwards, "and the couch is right here." Sam pulled Kurt down onto his lap as he sat on the sofa. He started grinding down and kissing Sam's neck.

"If you keep that up, I'm going to need to change clothes to leave."

"I have a solution for that, if you're willing to let me try something."

"What?"

He whispered into Sam's ear as he gently licked the edge.

"Really?"

"I've wanted to try it."

"If you're sure."

"Oh, I'm really sure." Kurt ran his hands through the back of Sam's hair and sucked gently on his earlobe."

"Yes, please. Yes."

Kurt leaned back and unbuttoned Sam's pants.

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Kurt tucked Sam back in and zipped and buttoned him up. He climbed back into his lap, straddling his legs, and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and lay on him chest to chest, nuzzling Sam's neck.

"Was that okay?"

Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt. "That was amazing."

"I've wondered what it would be like. I wanted to try it."

"Well, I volunteer for your continued practice, should you feel so inclined again in the future."

"Is that so?"

"Most definitely. Do you want me to?"

"Um, well, I'm still going to have to change clothes before we leave," he said quietly.

"Oh."

Kurt laughed and kissed Sam on the neck. "But first, I just want to enjoy this for a few more minutes."

Sam wriggled down a little bit so Kurt would be more comfortable. He ran his hands up and down Kurt's back gently.

"Thank you," Kurt said.

"For what?"

"Just being yourself. For loving me. For making me feel so loved and wanted."

"You make me feel loved and wanted too, you know? Every time you watch a new sci fi movie with me. Every time you check out a fantasy book and listen to it with me. Every time you touch me so gently."

There was a knock at their door. Kurt quickly got up off of Sam's lap and went to the door. He looked through the peephole to see that it was Santana. He opened the door.

"You can come in IF you give me your phone."

She pulled it out of her bra.

"Power it down and lay it there on the table."

She did as he requested.

"So, what can we do for you Santana? I'm assuming that you want to see our flat."

"Yes, there's that and the fact that I spent the last half hour thinking about what you said." She looked around, peeked behind their room divider, opened the bathroom door and eventually sat in the leather chair by the windows. "You two did a nice job on the place."

"Thanks," Kurt said. "What is it that you thought about?"

"I shouldn't have spied on you."

"True."

"I want to make it. I want to make something of myself. I have to grow up. I moved here to start over and I let myself get caught up in behaving like Rachel did in high school sneaking around with Finn to help him catch Quinn supposedly cheating on him. I need to learn to mind my own damn business and get my life on track. I'll keep what you two said to myself. It's no one's business that the two of you are fucking or whatever. You're both being more adult than I am and I'm done being tied to Lima. If Rachel decides to let the gelhead move in, I will grin and bear it for the two months my name remains on the lease and I will spend all of the time that I am not working to find a new place to live."

"I see," Kurt said.

"Look, I know you don't trust me and I deserve that. But I'm going to show you that I can use my powers for good."

Kurt laughed.

"I know, I know. But my bitch powers can be harnessed for good. I just need to put my mind to it. I don't want to blow through the money I got for graduation and have nothing to show for it. I'm going to take some dance classes and voice lessons or something and get a job that's not spying on people."

"Well, I wish you luck with that. And trust is earned. We'll see how it goes."

"That's fair," she said as she got up and walked back to the door. "If you two decide to move out, let me know. Maybe I could find a roommate and share this place with someone instead of living with Berry."

"We'll do that," Kurt said.

Sam got up and walked over to the door. He unlocked it to let Santana out. She grabbed her phone and walked out. He locked the door behind her.

"Well, that was unexpected," Sam said.

"Well, we'll see. She has a high bar set for herself to be a grown up."

Sam laughed.

"I'm going to go change."

Kurt came back a few minutes later with their coats. Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and kissed him. "I love you." He took Sam's hand and they went out to change their phone plans before the store closed.

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"So we have new numbers, a family plan and we each save money. This was definitely a good idea."

"I'm full of good ideas."

"That's true. The car insurance plus your renter's insurance got a discount for a multi-policy plan. So, that saved money too."

"Um hmm." Kurt agreed, as he unlocked their door. He shut it behind them and locked it.

"Mmm. It smells good in here." Sam said as he sniffed.

"I think the chili is done. I'll turn the crockpot off and let it cool down so we can eat."

Sam helped Kurt out of his coat and hung both of their coats up. Sam came back and wrapped his arms around Kurt while he was in the kitchen. He squeezed gently and kissed the back of his neck. "Smells so good."

"We can eat it in about 10 minutes," he said as he ladled the chili into bowls.

"Not the chili, which does smell good, but that time I meant you." Sam turned him around.

"Oh," Kurt blushed.

Sam kissed him. "It's not cologne or your shampoo or anything I've smelled those separately to see why you always smell so good. It's just you. It makes me want to be near you all the time."

"Then, it's a good thing I like you so close, isn't it?" Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam's neck. They swayed together in a silent dance.

"Do you want to dance for a little bit before we eat?" Sam let go of Kurt with one hand a pulled his phone out and turned on a play list, turned the volume up and stuck it back in his pocket. They danced in their tiny kitchen.

After a couple of songs, Kurt kissed Sam and stepped back. He picked their bowls up and carried them to the table. Sam grabbed some spoons and napkins and followed him. They sat next to each other and ate.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking," Kurt said when he finished.

"You always think a lot." Sam winked at him. "What were you thinking about this time?"

"You, me, us. The future."

Sam took their bowls and spoons to the sink and washed them quickly. "In what way?"

"Last year all I could really think about was getting out of Lima. I wanted to be where I thought I would be accepted for who I am. I came here and walked right back into the drama I needed to leave behind. Then you came and we moved in here. And I realized that what I was looking for isn't this place. It's not the applause from performing."

Sam was listening carefully. He finished and left the bowls to air dry. He took Kurt by the hand and led him to the couch. He slipped his shoes off and put his right leg out along the back of the couch and patted the space in front of him. Kurt took his shoes off too and sat down. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and he leaned back onto Sam. Kurt put his hands over the top of Sam's.

"It's exactly this. As crazy as it may sound, this - us - is what I longed for. This is real. You know the real me. And you aren't put out by my bitchy side or my specific way of doing things. If I'm mad, it's okay. You don't tell me not to be mad. If I cry, you don't tell me to suck it up and stop. Or passive aggressively ignore me until you've shamed into behaving better."

Sam kissed his neck and squeezed him a little and let him talk.

"When I thought about the future last year, never once did it cross my mind that I'd ever feel like this. I saw a lifetime of trying to keep myself in check - like I was too much for anyone to handle. I think that's what drew me to the stage. On stage I could be larger than life. I could be loud and I could be withdrawn. I could laugh raucously or I could cry. And within the context of the character I portrayed I could let parts of me out that people wanted to suppress."

"Like when you did that jazzy one-person duet right after I joined Glee."

"Exactly. On stage, I could be that flamboyant character when in real life I couldn't even sing a non-romantic duet with you."

"Which I totally wanted to sing with you."

That made Kurt smile. "And after I went to Dalton, which I have renamed the 'Stepford Sons School of Conformity.'"

Sam laughed.

"Sebastian loved the name too. After I went to Dalton, I caved and gave up my individuality for safety and a good education. I went back to McKinley and I let myself be free on stage again. We did 'Born this Way', which I think you lied on your shirt, but anyway, and I came back wearing a white bondage coat and a top hat. But I mistakenly asked he-who-shall-not-be-named to come to McKinley and I stuffed all of my not-so-acceptable-bits back inside. I stayed in the background. I didn't do anything like 'Rose's Turn' or 'Le Jazz Hot' or 'Bad Romance'. I look back at the way I dressed and I wore gray like four times a week. Not a skirt or corset in sight. The most outrageous thing I wore was that asymmetrical half sweater I wore over a red shirt the day we sang to Santana. And that knitted cape I wore when I lost the election to Brittany and even it was gray."

"Well, I wasn't there for a lot of those things you listed. But the white jacket and top hat were cool. And what do you mean I lied on my shirt?"

"Your lips are amazing and I don't think they are the thing that you had a hard time accepting about yourself." He twisted himself just enough to quickly peck Sam on the lips.

"Okay, so I lied, but I didn't want to talk about it. I hadn't accepted it, and I'm not sure I still have, but I couldn't think of anything else to put on my shirt."

"You know I don't think any less of you because of it, right?"

"I know. You never did. You never once made me feel dumb. All of those things you said about me accepting you - it's completely the same for you with me. You never get mad at me about my impressions or how much I talk about sci fi stuff or my total geekiness in general."

"It's because you don't love me despite my bitchy tendencies or despite all of the things I kept stuffed inside and I don't love you despite you being a total geek. We just love each other. It was just a really stark revelation to me when I thought about the fact that if he hadn't cheated on me, I would still be with him and I would have said 'yes' yesterday. I would have said 'yes' to a future of hiding all of my non-acceptable parts away unless I was on the stage."

Sam kissed his shoulder and kept listening.

"I would have lived my life believing that what I had was as good as it gets - that what I had was love. I honestly thought it was. And I'm sure that he thinks he loves me, otherwise he wouldn't have arranged all of that yesterday. But he only loves the parts of me he deems acceptable and I'm sure that he's probably still thinking of a way to get me back. He wants a Stepford husband. I can cook, clean, iron, sew, do laundry, make out with him on his schedule. I'm quite the catch, if I keep my mouth shut, don't show him up, or be too emotional." Kurt paused.

Sam just patiently let him get what he had to say off of his chest.

Kurt pulled away and scooted down the couch a little and turned to look at Sam. "Slide down a little and put your other leg up." Kurt got up on his hands and knees so Sam could put his other leg up on the couch. As soon as he did, Kurt lay down on top of Sam and squeezed him the best he could. "Mmm. You're the best pillow ever."

"I'm sure that's not true. I'm not fluffy."

"But I can hear your heartbeat and I can feel your love. I have what I was looking for all along. I will always love performing, but I've realized that's not what I want to pursue as a career."

"What do you want to do then? You applied to all music programs."

"Oh, I still want to study music. I want us to go to New Paltz during your spring break. I'm going to ask for two or three days off that week. You applied there too, right?"

"I did. The program looks really good and the tuition is really affordable."

"That's what I think. I want to go visit in person for a few days and get a feel for the campus and the courses."

"Sounds good to me. I think it's less than two hours from here. Easy drive."

"We should get acceptance or rejection letters by then. If we don't get in, we'll go look at whatever places we do get in. This whole conversation was supposed to be me telling you how amazing having you in my life is. I meandered around to the point. I want us to be together. I want us to go to college together. I want us to be together, to stay together. Always."

Sam didn't say anything. Kurt lifted his head up from Sam's chest and looked at Sam. He saw a few tears slipping down his face.

"Sam?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Absolutely."

Sam wiggled and Kurt pushed up on his arms. Sam slid down so he was lying flat on the couch. Kurt started kissing him. Sam pulled him back down. Kurt propped on his elbows and they continued to kiss.

Sam ended the kiss gently and asked, "By always, you mean forever, right, not just for college?"

"Yes," followed by a kiss.

"As in you want to marry me? That kind of forever?"

"Yes," followed by another kiss.

"Will you let me up?"

"Sure." Kurt was a little confused, but he pushed up then climbed off the couch and stood up.

Sam sat up and put his feet on the floor. "Sit," he said as he patted his lap.

Kurt straddled Sam's lap and sat down facing him. "Like this?"

"Yes."

"I can't give you a proper answer until you ask me a proper question," Sam said.

Kurt smiled. He reached for Sam's hands and held them up against Sam's chest between them. "Sam Evans, do you want to marry me?"

"Yes." Sam leaned forward and kissed Kurt. He let go of Kurt's hands and wrapped his arms around Kurt's back and pulled him towards him into a hug hold.

"I want to do something completely corny and absolutely fun," Kurt said.

"Like what?"

"Pull your phone out and connect it to the Bluetooth speaker."

"Done."

"Go to YouTube. Find a karaoke version of 'Islands in the Stream'. We're going to a lame job of singing sappy romantic duets in lieu of the duet we never got to sing together."

The intro started. They sang along, messing up and doing well at different points in time. They finished and started laughing.

"That was completely terrible," Sam said still laughing.

"I know. It was perfect. Let's try 'Endless Love.'"

Sam pulled it up. It went even worse than the first one since Sam wasn't as familiar with it and kept messing the words up. Kurt was cracking up. Sam laid his phone down and pulled Kurt into a hug again. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

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Sam walked up to the building a little after 6:00 to find Kurt leaning against the building holding something his hand. Kurt handed it to him. He unfolded the paper towel and laughed.

"You made it just the way I like."

"Of course, lightly toasted, peanut butter on both sides, jelly in the middle, cut into triangles."

Sam kissed Kurt and took a bite. "So, what's with the sandwich and waiting for me out here?"

"Well, there's somewhere I want to go and it closes at 7:00, so we need to get going."

"Alright."

Kurt wrapped his arm around Sam's waist while he ate his sandwich. Once he finished, he wrapped his arm around Kurt. Kurt talked a mile a minute about some crazy photo shoot that he had helped with that afternoon. Kurt stopped suddenly.

"In here." Kurt let go of Sam's waist and grabbed the door and opened it for Sam. He followed Sam inside. "What I want to show you is in here."

"Alright."

The first door had opened into a small lobby that had three other doors off of it. Kurt opened a second door and ushered Sam inside.

"A jewelry store?"

"Yep. Come look. They sell stainless men's rings. I saw one I liked a lot and I want to know if you like it."

"Show me," he said with a big smile on his face.

Kurt led him over to one of the cases.

An employee facing the other direction asked, "Is there something I can help you with?" She turned around. "Oh, hi. Welcome back. Do you want me to get the ring out you were looking at earlier?"

"Yes, please."

She placed it on the counter and went pack to cleaning the top of the case she was working on before.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's cool." Sam picked one up. "The edges are smooth. I like that. It wouldn't cut in when it's on."

"I liked that too. I tried on some others, but when I closed my hands, I could feel the edge sort of dig in on the lower edge. I also liked the hammered look. It looks strong like it could hold up to anything. They're not the least bit girly-looking with the band width, but they aren't overly large or ostentatious."

"Could you size his finger for us and let him see one in his size?"

"Sure." She took out a sizer and then pulled out the same ring in Sam's size and sat it on the counter.

Sam picked it up and looked at it.

"Try it on. See what you think."

Sam slipped it on. "It fits." He moved his fingers. "It doesn't restrict movement and you're right, it's just the right width to still look masculine without being bulky. I think I could still play the guitar with it on."

"Before we decide, go ahead and look in the case and see if you see anything else you really like."

Sam leaned down and looked carefully. "I do like that one and the one two rows over."

The employee came and took the two he indicated out.

He tried the first one on. "Too heavy, but it looks cool." He tried the other one on. "I see what you mean," he said while making a fist. "It cuts into the hand joint a little. I think that would be annoying when playing my guitar. I think the one you picked out is the best."

"I'll take this one," Kurt said loud enough for the employee heard him and came back again. She took the ring meant for Sam and placed it in a ring box and took it over to the register. Kurt paid for it and she handed him the receipt, which he put in his wallet, and the ring box, which he slipped into his jacket pocket.

Sam was still standing near the case. Kurt looked over at him and tilted his head slightly and raised his eyebrow questioningly.

The employee walked back over to Sam. "Did you want the other ring or shall I put it back away?"

Kurt smiled at him.

"Yes, of course, I want this one." She boxed it up and he paid.

He walked over to where Kurt was waiting. Kurt took his hand and they left the store and walked back toward their apartment.

"Let's stop at the bakery that's on the way home and get one of those big cookies to split," Sam said.

"Sounds good. What kind?"

"I'm not sure. Let's pick after we get there."

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Kurt poured one glass of milk and sat it on the table between them and put the white chocolate macadamia cookie between them on a plate. He sat down. He picked the cookie up and held it up to Sam for him to take the first bite.

"That's good."

Kurt took a bite. "It really is. I've looked in the window a lot of times, but I've not gotten anything there before. It may be dangerous now that I know it's good."

"Nah. I know you better than that. You'll only buy one for really special occasions."

"Like celebrating last night's decision?"

"Exactly." He gave Sam a bite again.

Kurt took a drink of the milk, and then took another bite himself. Once they had finished the cookie and the milk, Sam washed the dishes and left them to dry. Kurt was still sitting at the table.

Neither of them had taken their jackets off because the rings were in their pockets, but neither of them had made a move to do anything with them.

Sam sat on the couch. "Come sit with me, well, on my lap."

"Like last night?"

"Exactly."

Kurt straddled Sam's legs, kneeling, and sat down facing Sam. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring box. He took the ring out and offered it to Sam. "Will you please wear this ring as a token of my love for you, knowing that one day we'll get married?"

Sam pulled the ring box out of his own jacket pocket and took Kurt's ring out of the box. "Yes, definitely yes. Will you do the same?" offering Kurt the ring.

"Absolutely."

They put the rings on each other. Kurt practically leapt forward and enveloped Sam by wrapping his arms around Sam's neck. Sam responded by wrapping his arms around Kurt and holding him tight. They stayed that way for several minutes.

"I know it's far too early for bed, but that's exactly what I want to do. Will you join me in a nice warm shower followed by the massage I'd like to give you?"

"Sounds fabulous. Let me double-check the door and turn the lights off."

Kurt headed to the bathroom, Sam following closely behind.

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Sam was lying on his stomach on the bed. Kurt chose some romantic Spanish guitar music to play in the background. He was taking his time and being very thorough. Sam was certain that not a single inch had been overlooked during Kurt's massage.

"Turn over and I'll do the front."

"The front?"

"Unless you don't want me to."

"Oh, I do. I definitely do." He turned over. "Naked massages ranks right up there with listening to books while snuggling naked as my favorite pastimes."

"I see." He turned around, still straddling Sam's legs, but sitting so that he could reach Sam's shins.

"Just a second." Sam rolled to the side and flipped one of the battery-operated candles on. "That's better."

"What did you need the light for?"

"The view, of course. I can't watch you in the dark."

Kurt ignored the feeling of needing to hide himself. Sam loved him. He put some lotion on his hands and rubbed it into Sam's shins, working his way up each leg. One he had reached the top, he turned back around and started on Sam's shoulders working his way down each arm. After the arms, Kurt paused. "Can I do your chest and abdomen or would you rather not have lotion on you there?"

"Please continue. I can wash it off tomorrow morning, if necessary."

Kurt resumed the massage, and stopped once he had rubbed the lotion in all over.

"You've forgotten a spot," Sam said with a grin and a wink.

"Oh, I didn't forget. I hadn't planned to use my hands for that particular spot, but I can if you prefer."

"No, please continue with your plan."

Kurt readjusted how he was sitting.

"Oh, God," Sam exclaimed.

0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0

"Now that I've returned from my boneless after-massage state, I want to do you. Roll over."

Sam massaged Kurt and turned him to a pile of goo. Kurt moaned and made these sounds that were amazing to Sam's ears. He was clearly enjoying Sam's touches. Sam was amazed just how relaxed Kurt had allowed himself to become, letting Sam look at him and touch him freely. Gone was the guarded high school Kurt that flinched away from being touched and hid himself for self-preservation.

"Time for the front."

Kurt turned over.

Sam followed the same order that Kurt had. When he finished, he also followed by offering the same option that Kurt had given him. Kurt gave the same answer that Sam had.

0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0

Kurt and Sam were surprised by a knock on their door after dinner on Tuesday. They hadn't invited anyone over and Santana had just been there on Sunday. Kurt looked out the peephole to see Blaine standing smiling holding flowers on the other side of the door.

He backed away from the door like he had been burned. Sam saw his reaction. Kurt put his index finger up to his lips. Sam went to the door and looked through the peephole. He stepped back and shook his head.

He took Kurt's hand and led him into the bathroom and shut the door behind them. "He's got a lot of nerve," Sam said quietly.

"I did mention that I thought that he'd eventually try again, but I didn't think he would be so soon. McKinley must have spring break this week. I'm not ready to talk to him. I'm not answering the door."

"That's fine. There's no law that says we have to open the door. Maybe he'll just go away, at least for tonight. Let's shower and get in bed for the evening. We can listen to a book or music and snuggle."

0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0

"That's the third time he's knocked tonight."

"I think it's probably actually the fourth. He's come by every hour on the hour. We must have just not heard the 10:00 visit."

"I was a bit distracted an hour ago," Sam laughed quietly.

"Let's hope he just goes to sleep for now. I'm going to have to see him tomorrow. I can't let this go on. I'll call him tomorrow and block my caller ID and set up a meeting time, somewhere that's not here in our home."

"I want to be there with you."

"We can talk about that tomorrow too. I'm really tired now. Let's go to sleep." Kurt turned over away from Sam, and waited for him to scoot up behind him. "My big spoon is missing."

"Oh, right. Spaced out. I wish he'd just go back to Lima." Sam scooted up behind Kurt and wrapped his arm around Kurt. He placed gentle kisses on Kurt's shoulders and neck.

0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0

Kurt left for work and Sam left for school, but not before giving each other an extra long hug before they headed off. They had discussed over breakfast how Kurt was certain that Blaine would work to corner him at some point during the day.

Kurt was beginning to feel like maybe he had overestimated Blaine's resolve when he had managed to make it through lunch without hearing from him, but when there was a call for him to go to the reception desk at 2:30, he knew it was Blaine.

Kurt took the elevator downstairs and walked to the reception desk. "Good afternoon, Corinna. What did you need me to come down to pick up?" Kurt asked as if he had no idea what was going on.

"Hi, Kurt. There's a flower delivery for you, but I wouldn't let him go up because he wasn't wearing anything remotely resembling a deliverer's outfit and he was far too excited to be here to be a delivery boy."

"Let me guess. Nice looking, 5'7"ish, garishly bright, probably primary colored clothes, bow tie, hair gelled stiff?"

"That's him."

"The flowers are there." She pointed to a package of dozen long-stem red roses.

Kurt walked around her desk to look at the flowers. He pulled the gift tag off and read it. "Kurt, I love you." Simple. He had obviously thought he could manage to get up to Kurt's office to deliver them in person to give the big "Take me back." speech. Kurt kept the card in his hand, but didn't pick up the flowers.

"I don't want the flowers. You can give them to anyone you want to. I'd hate for them to go into the trash, but if at the end of the day you can't find anyone who wants to take them home, just toss them."

She nodded.

Kurt took the elevator back up to his office. He ripped the little card to shreds over his trashcan. He pulled his phone out and sat down at his desk. He went back to what he was doing for a while, but the nagging feeling of needing to get the confrontation over with kept eating at him. He finally gave in and picked his phone up. He blocked his caller ID and called Blaine.

"Hello?"

"Blaine, this is Kurt. Don't say anything. I'm not supposed to make personal calls from work. Do not come back to Vogue today. I will call you when I get off and we can make arrangements to meet this evening." Kurt hung up.

Kurt struggled to stay focused the rest of the afternoon, but he managed to finish up the project that Isabelle was expecting before he left.

0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0()0

Kurt texted Sam telling him that he was planning to meet Blaine at the Starbucks in their neighborhood at 6:00. He asked him to let him deal with him alone.

Blaine was sitting at a table when Kurt arrived. Blaine stood up immediately and moved into Kurt's personal space, attempting to hug him. Kurt took a step back and motioned toward the line. They got in line. Kurt ordered a decaf Americano with extra cream. He hated Starbucks coffee and he purposefully chose it as their meeting location because he never bought coffee there and meeting there prevented him from having a bad memory associated with one of the local coffee houses that he actually loved.

Kurt paid for his own coffee and waited for Blaine's complicated something-with-a-ton-of-sugar-in-it-to-cover-the-taste-of-the-coffee drink to be ready. He motioned for Blaine to pick a spot to sit. He sat across from Blaine.

"Kurt, I didn't mean to upset you at Dalton on Saturday."

Kurt interrupted him. "Blaine, please stop talking and listen carefully. There is nothing you can do or say that will result in us being a couple again."

"Kurt, I love you." Blaine reached out in an attempt to touch Kurt's hand.

Kurt removed his hand from his cup before Blaine managed to touch him and put it in his lap, where he was purposefully keeping his left hand.

"That may very well be. But you love a part of me. You love the me that you saw when I had finally given in and assimilated into a Dalton boy. You love the me that quietly sits in the background, knowing my place in life is to support you and your aspirations. You don't mind if I come along for the ride, but it's not my place to be in the limelight, unless the spotlight on you is brighter."

"That's not true."

"Blaine, really listen and think about what I'm saying. You blamed me for being cheated on. Given that you came to see me two weeks after I had gotten here, you managed to cheat on me within two weeks of me leaving. You said I wasn't there for you. So, you chose to turn to someone else. Two weeks, Blaine. In that two weeks, I had to find a place to live, furnish it, find a job, and learn my way around a huge city and the area I moved to. You've been here since at least yesterday. How many times have you consulted your phone for a map or gotten turned around? You either hired a car or took the subway into the city today. It's not a 10-minute endeavor. It takes me an hour to get to work and an hour to get home. I was spending every evening after I got the job, which was a week after I got here, working to turn the loft into a livable place. When we signed the lease, it was empty. I mean absolutely empty - a giant room with wooden support beams. No kitchen wall separating Rachel's room from the kitchen. No sink, no stove, no refrigerator. I was busy non-stop. I took calls from you at work, which could have gotten me fired, but I didn't want to ignore you."

"All you talked about was New York and your new life. You weren't interested in my life anymore."

"That's not true. But you being overly concerned about which bow tie to wear to a high school class president debate wasn't exactly a riveting conversation. Did you ever pause to think about the fact that I desperately wanted to be class president and got disqualified because Rachel cheated? That maybe class president elections wouldn't be something that would be a topic I would be interested in?"

"I thought you'd be proud of me for running."

"If that was the case, why didn't you talk about the issues you were hoping to tackle? Why didn't you ask me for pointers for the debate? Asking me which tie to wear when no one at that school even likes ties, much less large, colorful bow ties, didn't seem like you wanted my input on the topic of school issues."

"At Thanksgiving, you said I was your best friend, then you sent me home at Christmas and you haven't spoken to me. I still love you Kurt. I planned the proposal so that you could see just how much."

"Again, it was a show. Like the one you put on when I went back to McKinley and the one you put on when you came to McKinley. I loved both of those, but in retrospect, they were shallow showy events that showcased you. You came to McKinley and I slipped back into my Dalton well-behaved version of myself. I did love you. I did everything to make you happy that I could." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I even gave you me when you were just wanting a solution to your virginity problem." He resumed speaking in his natural voice. "I put up with you letting Sebastian flirt with you while he insulted me. I watched you be featured at Sectionals, while I got a couple of lines with Tina. You were featured at Regionals. You sang back up for Rachel at Nationals, even though you were a junior and it was my last competition."

"I didn't choose those things. You know that."

"You chose to accept Tony, while I got the only non-singing part of any Glee member that auditioned. You knew I needed it, and no one else auditioned for it. I could have done a good job as Tony. But you wanted it and you took it. And I loved you. Instead of being mad, I supported you. I'm pretty sure that if the roles had been reversed and I had been a junior and you a senior and I had accepted part that you needed that I had told you I would not audition for that you would have shamed me until I gave the part up or you would have broken up with me."

"That's not true."

"Blaine, you publicly, angrily sang a break up song to me when I had been texting with someone for a few days. Someone I told you I had no feelings for."

"You were flirting, leading him on."

"They were stupid, cheesy pick up lines. Sebastian told me to my face that you would be his. He wasn't even hiding the fact that he was actively seeking to seduce you away from me. You were friendly with him and texted with him for months, somewhere around 4-5 months. I had texted someone for a few days. And you publicly humiliated me over it. You called me a cheater in public. And what was my response? To placate you. To soothe you. To fix it. I blocked Chandler, something you could have easily done with Sebastian. I sang a song telling you that I was nothing without you and the sad part was, that by then, I actually believed that. I had given up my outgoing nature for you. I had supported you to my own detriment. Everyone told me how lucky I was to have you. I swallowed what was left of my self-respect and sang a song about my own worthlessness to appease you."

"I didn't mean to make you feel that way. Honestly."

"And I can accept that as your view of the situation. I really can. But it doesn't change the fact that you always put yourself first. If you had the means to come to New York two weeks before your scheduled trip last fall, what prevented you from coming even earlier, like when you were feeling so neglected that you let a random fuck you instead of coming to me and telling me that you felt like I was shutting you out?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. But the fact is that you didn't love me enough to satisfy yourself with your own right hand for a few more days. You didn't call me and say, 'Kurt, I feel lonely. I'm sad without you here.' You called and complained about how the Glee club wasn't listening to you. You told me about how you were the 'new Rachel'. You talked about running for class president. Never once did you say, 'I feel lost without you.' You went to I-don't-know-who and let him fuck you instead. You know, they make dildos for that, right? You can solve physical desires without resorting to cheating on your boyfriend."

"I know. It was wrong and the second it was over, I knew that I was wrong. I knew that sex wasn't what I needed."

"It was wrong the very moment you made the first move to seek out anyone but me for that. It wasn't wrong after the fact. Why did you fly to New York to tell me after the fact? Did you honestly think I would say, 'Oh, I understand. It's okay.'?"

"I had hoped you would forgive me. It was the worst mistake I've ever made."

"Again, not a 'mistake'. It was an active choice you made. No one forced you. You got in your car of your own volition and drove yourself somewhere. The entirety of the drive, you had the opportunity to turn around and drive back home. Even once you got there and knocked on the door or whatever you did, you still had the opportunity to say, 'I need to go.' and leave. Even once your clothes were off, you had the opportunity to put them back on and say, 'I've changed my mind.' Cheating isn't a mistake. It's a choice. You chose to break the bond of trust between us. You chose to break my heart. You chose. Every arrangement you made, every step of the way, every movement, every bit of it was an active choice."

"It seemed like you were close to forgiving me at Thanksgiving and you said I was your best friend and that we'd see each other at Christmas. Then your dad said you weren't coming home when I asked him. When he offered to let me come with him, I took him up on it because I thought you would want to see me. It seemed like you did."

"But you made it seem like nothing had really happened to my dad. You made it out like we were fine, didn't you? You also lied to Santana and the Warblers and I'm assuming the New Directions."

"I realized that you hadn't told him, so I thought that meant that you didn't want him to know because you didn't want him to hate me when we got back together. I didn't tell anyone the truth because it could get back to your dad."

"I didn't tell him because I do my best not to be a source of stress in his life. And honestly, I was ashamed. You told me it was my fault and I believed you. I shouldered the blame for something I had absolutely nothing to do with. Around Thanksgiving, I realized that I needed some help. I was so upset with myself. I felt like I had lost the one good thing in my life, which was you. I had Rachel, but she only ever looks out for herself. She had Brody and she was at the school I wanted to be at. It was like listening to you when you were Tony and I wasn't. Like finding out you won class president when I didn't even get a fair chance. She wasn't there for me. I didn't have extra money to go to a therapist, but I did call a hotline number that I found for depression. I was living on Ambien because I couldn't sleep. I had to do something. Talking to someone really helped. And you lied to everyone else to save face, not to protect my dad. You know darn good and well that most of the people in New Directions this year don't even know my dad and the few that do would never go talk to him about my private life."

"You were taking sleeping pills?"

"Which part of you cheating on me and blaming me for it tore my life to shreds have you missed in this conversation? I couldn't sleep. I can't work if I haven't slept. I can't eat or pay my rent if I don't work."

"I get it."

"Talking to the phone counselor helped. She pointed out the things I said earlier. Cheating is a choice and since I wasn't the one who made that choice that I wasn't to blame for it happening. I re-evaluated our relationship and realized how toxic it was. I realized that I had devalued myself to the point of changing myself for you in a way that I had never let the bullies succeed at. They harassed me about the way I dressed. I didn't let it stop me from being myself. I wore skirts to school. I had worn a corset to school before. You were clear that you didn't like the kilt. I wore it anyway. That was the last time I wore something like that. I changed my style."

"I never told you to dress differently."

"Not in specific words, no. But you would make comments about how you preferred one choice over another. My wardrobe became like 70% gray, 20% tan with 10% color thrown in here and there. Maybe less than 10%."

"So, I'm toxic?"

"Maybe not in a relationship with someone else. I don't know. But I think it's highly likely, unless you come to a point where you can own your choices and realize that you can't hold your partner to different standards than you hold yourself to."

"What do you mean?"

"Think way, way, way back. The first time I auditioned for a solo in the Warblers, I sang 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina.'"

"I remember."

"Besides the fact that the whole audition thing was a farce, when I put my hand up while I was singing, you quietly indicated to me to put my hand down and sing without gestures. Afterwards, you told me that being Warbler was about being part of the group and not standing out, but your M.O. was to jump around on the furniture and toss the sheet music up in the air whenever you felt like it. You held me and my behavior to a different standard than your own."

"I was trying to help you."

"No, if you were trying to help me, you would have told me to choose a song based on what I thought I would sound good singing the lead in with the Warblers singing back up. I thought the audition was to showcase my voice since most of them hadn't heard me sing. I didn't know that I was suggesting a song with my audition. I would never have chosen that song because it doesn't have much potential for arranging it in 12 or more part harmony. I knew the Warblers style. If I had realized that my song was what I was auditioning to sing with the group, I would have gone with a Madonna song or a Lady Gaga song. Something with a beat and a lot of instrumental parts to be performed by vocalists."

"I didn't know you didn't know."

"Whether you did or didn't isn't the point. My point was, you wanted me to put my hand down when you jumped all over furniture."

"Okay."

"The texting issue is another area where you held my behavior to a different standard than what you were allowed to do. You texted with Sebastian for months. I texted with someone for a few days and you lost it."

"You were flirting."

"He was flirting."

"You let him."

"You let Sebastian, for months. Different standards - making it seem like I was weak and you were strong. You could resist a flirty boy, but I was too weak and I would succumb to his flirtatious advances of texts about my 'asp'. Lame puns. How many dick pics did Sebastian send you?"

Blaine blushed. "I deleted them."

"I'm just pointing out that a lame pun is no where near the level of salaciousness of a dick pic."

"All of those things are in the past. And I never meant for any of them to be hurtful. And I won't be like that anymore. I just want another chance with you. I won't screw it up this time."

"I gave you too many chances the first time, Blaine. I'm not in love with you anymore. The moment you told me that you had been with someone else my heart broke. I've worked to heal it and I'm whole again, but I'm not in love with you. I've had a new boyfriend since December, Blaine. I'm not breaking up with him."

"What? Santana spent weeks watching you. She followed you around."

"I know. I don't appreciate that, by the way."

"She was 100% sure you weren't dating anyone. She said some British guy came over from time to time and that you and Sam went to art shows with him and a group of people from NYADA. She figured you were just getting to know some people you'd be in school with in the fall."

"Well, the guy's name is Adam and he's super nice, but no I'm not dating him, so Santana was right about that. And yes, those people go to NYADA and I did spend time asking them about the school, and we do go to a lot of the same free art events. I've actually spent time at several schools that I applied to for the fall. I deferred my NYADA admission because by the time Madame Tibideaux asked me to perform that night at the Winter Showcase, I had already been visiting other schools in the area and had already applied to a few. I didn't want to lose out on another entire year of school if I didn't get into NYADA for the spring."

"I thought NYADA was your dream."

"My dream was to perform. I hadn't even heard about NYADA until last fall. The college and career planning at McKinley is horrible. Anyway, I visited other schools after I moved here and found that I liked what I saw at some of them. I deferred my enrollment to consider my options now that I actually live here. I can barely afford to live here. Even if my dad helps with the tuition, coming out of college with $150,000 in debt with a potential performing career seems like a profoundly bad life choice."

"So, wait. You're not going to go to NYADA?"

"No. I'm not. I'm going to choose between whichever programs I get accepted to that are more affordable. If I end up not getting any acceptance letters, then I need to reconsider my field of study. Did you apply other places as well?"

"NYADA, NYU, a couple of places in Ohio that my parents insisted on as back ups."

"So, have you decided on NYADA for sure?"

"Rachel loves it there. She's told me all about it and it seems like a great place."

"Well, you're obviously already here. Go to class with her all day one day. Call NYU and see if you can shadow someone there in their musical theater program for the day. Make good use of your time here. Rachel already told me that you're planning to move into the loft right after graduation. You need to be prepared to cover half of the rent and utilities. There's no guarantee that Santana or Brody will re-sign the lease when it renews the beginning of September."

"What about Sam?"

"What about him?"

"If you leave and go to college somewhere else, won't he want to move into the loft?"

"No. And my honest advice to you would be to move on campus. You have no life skills. You don't know how to do laundry. You've never had to grocery shop or make a menu. You can't cook."

"Rachel managed."

"I cooked for Rachel. She tried to make Brody dinner not long after we moved in and she set the pan on fire. They ordered pizza. Brody cooks for her now. But I'm not sure that you'll have much luck getting him to cook for you. I'm pretty sure that batting your eyes and looking at him demurely will not get him to make you dinner for you like he does for Rachel."

"I wouldn't think so."

"Just think long and hard whether you want to spend an hour commuting each way, then come home and have to cook for yourself and live with no walls and no real privacy. You've basically been an only child with complete control over your life. You are a control freak. You scheduled our make out sessions. Living in a loft with no walls is noisy and it's not controllable."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So, you can make an informed decision. I'm sharing information with you."

"You don't want me to live in the building."

"It makes no difference to me. I won't be there. You can rent the apartment Sam and I are sharing right now, if you want. It's $800 a month, plus utilities. It's less than half the cost of the loft and you could live on your own. You'll have to furnish it. It has a stove, sink and refrigerator in it, which is more than the loft had when Rachel and I moved in."

"Can I see it while I'm here?"

Kurt pulled his phone out and scrolled back through his photos, holding the phone so that Blaine couldn't see his screen. He selected a few of them, quickly made up a new gmail account and emailed them to Blaine.

"I emailed you a few photos of what it looks like. I need to get going. We've been here for a long time. And I've said everything that I had to say. To summarize - we aren't getting back together." Kurt stood up. "I wish you the best of luck in your studies, wherever you choose to go to school. Please do not try to contact me any more." He walked away from the table and dropped his cup in the trash on the way out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Kurt texted Sam right outside the Starbucks to let him know that he was on his way home. He unlocked the door to let himself in and he was immediately pulled inside the door and it was quickly shut behind him. And then he was gently pushed back against the door and Sam kissed him, gently and reassuringly. He didn't pin him and Kurt stepped forward enough to pull his jacket off and toss it onto the table. He wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and nuzzled into his neck. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him close.

"I know you don't eat much when you're stressed, but I made you a salad if you want to eat."

Kurt didn't let go, but he said, "Thank you. You're so good to me. How about a short snuggle on the couch and when I'm feeling better, I'll eat."

Sam released Kurt and walked over to the couch and slipped his shoes off. "How do you want me? Should I lie down or sit up or what?"

"Um, you lie on your back and I'll lie down on top of you or we can lie face to face on our sides."

Sam lay down on his back. Kurt slipped his shoes off, climbed between Sam's knees and lay down on him. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt. After a few minutes, he turned them so Kurt was between him and the back of the couch. Sam started to sing.

 _It's like a storm_

 _That cuts a path_

 _It breaks your will_

 _It feels like that_

 _._

 _You think you're lost_

 _But you're not on your own_

 _You're not alone_

 _._

 _I will stand by you_

 _I will help you through_

 _When you've done all you can do_

 _If you can't cope_

 _I will dry your eyes_

 _I will fight your fight_

 _I will hold you tight_

 _And I won't let go._

 _._

 _It hurts my heart_

 _To see you cry_

 _I know it's dark_

 _This part of life_

 _Oh, it finds us all_

 _._

 _And we're too small_

 _To stop the rain_

 _Oh, but when it rains_

.

 _I will stand by you_

 _I will help you through_

 _When you've done all you can do_

 _If you can't cope_

 _I will dry your eyes_

 _I will fight your fight_

 _I will hold you tight_

 _And I won't let you fall._

 _._

 _Don't be afraid to fall_

 _I'm right here to catch you_

 _I won't let you down_

 _It won't get you down_

 _You're gonna make it_

 _Yeah, I know you can make it_

 _._

' _Cause I will stand by you_

 _I will help you through_

 _When you've done all you can do_

 _If you can't cope_

 _I will dry your eyes_

 _I will fight your fight_

 _I will hold you tight_

 _And I won't let go_

 _Won't let you go_

 _No, I won't_

When he finished singing, he kissed Kurt on the forehead and held him close. It wasn't long before Kurt completely relaxed and fell asleep still smiling.

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Unfortunately, their rest was interrupted less than an hour later with knocking on the door.

"Just ignore it. Whoever it is will go away," Kurt said quietly. "Thank you for the song. It was perfect. I love you." He kissed Sam gently and stayed where he was.

The knocking started again. "Kurt, I know you're in there. Open the damn door."

Sam kissed Kurt again and moved to get up. Kurt sat up and followed him to the door. Kurt opened the door about 4 inches. "What do you want Santana?"

"To talk to you, obviously. Why else would I have walked down the stairs and knocked on your door?"

"You know the drill. Phone out and off and placed on the table."

She pulled her phone out, powered it down, and waited for Kurt to open the door enough for her to go inside, which he did. She placed her phone on the table and went to sit in the leather chair by the window again. Kurt locked the door and he and Sam went to sit on the couch.

"Gelhead came back spouting how you're refusing to take him back and how I'm a lousy spy because you told him you have a boyfriend that I didn't tell him about."

"Well, thanks for that," Kurt said. "I mean it. I appreciate you keeping it to yourself."

"I thought you weren't hiding it," she pointed out.

"We're not. I'm not. It was just that WHO my boyfriend is was of no relevance to the conversation. I wanted to focus on why I wasn't ever going to get back with him, not why I'm with who I'm with, which is what he would have tried to do. He would have tried to turn it into a contest. Why I should pick him over Sam. I wasn't interested in listening to him say negative things about Sam as a way to make himself look like a better option. His bank account and trust funds can't buy honesty and trust."

"The two hobbits came to a solution to the living arrangements. Rachel felt like she couldn't go back on her word about letting him live in the loft, but she's giving him a trial period of the summer. He's moving in as soon as he graduates, but in August, they will re-evaluate the arrangements and decide whether it's working out. So, I'm out. I need a place to go in June. He can take over my part of the lease, which is what I told them."

"Okay. Why are you down here telling me this? What the four of you do with the loft is none of my concern."

"Because I want to take over your lease on this place for the summer."

"Fine with me," Kurt said. "We'll just have to work out details with the Super at some point. If he's ready to sign the papers before he leaves, let me know and we'll arrange to meet and let you sign to take over this place in June. We can work out the details on the date we move out with you personally. Sam has to graduate before we can leave town. I'm not sure when McKinley's graduation is compared to Sam's. I'll look and we can talk about it."

"Deal."

"We aren't leaving anything behind. The only exception might be the kitchen cabinet and countertop. If the new place we find has an actual built-in kitchen, we won't need those. The stove, refrigerator and sink stay. They aren't ours."

"Got it. I'll just move my stuff down here. If I decide to stay past August, I'll get more stuff for the place."

"Don't forget a shower curtain and hooks. You'll need those. I can show you this place where we bought a lot of our stuff. It's more or less like an indoor rummage sale. The place is full of boxes of stuff - never the same stuff. Nothing is organized, but it is all new stuff. We bought the sheets I made curtains out of, the shower curtain, the hooks, a blanket, our plates, and our silverware there. Super cheap if you're up for a scavenger hunt and not too picky."

"I'll take you up on that one evening."

"So, did Rachel tell him that Sam is my boyfriend? I know how she loves to be the one to tell the juicy gossip."

"Right now, she's playing it like she hasn't spent enough time with you in the last three months to know anything personal about you anymore. I was actually shocked."

"Me too," Sam said. "Especially, after I sat on the sofa and told you two that I didn't care who knew. I figured she had already blabbed to everyone from Glee."

"She was actually really kind after I had been outed. She may have some heavily instilled gay-related rules from her dads. No outing may have been on the list of rules she learned like don't give strangers your address."

Kurt said, "That's possible. Being a gay couple that has been together as long as they have, I'm sure they have heard and personally know a lot of stories of people being outed. I mean they're old enough that they probably got harassed just for being friends because LeRoy is black and Hiram is Jewish. Let alone what might have been said or done to them for being gay. They may very well have instilled in her that it is absolutely wrong to out people."

"He did ask why Sam came here instead of staying in Lima. She gave him the same answer of she hasn't spent any time with you since he came."

"How long is he staying?" Sam asked.

"Until Saturday," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"Was there anything else you needed from me tonight? I had fallen asleep on the couch after I got back from talking to him and I haven't even had dinner. I'm hungry and tired."

"No, not really. I did find a job. I'll tell you more some other time. Eat. When was the last time you ate?"

"Breakfast, but Sam put my dinner in the fridge. It's just waiting to be eaten."

Santana nodded and got up. Sam opened the door and handed her phone to her on the way out. He shut and locked the door. He heard Kurt open the fridge. He carried the salad over to the table and sat down to eat it. Sam sat down with him and kept him company.

"Did you eat already?"

"I ate all the leftovers in the fridge while I made your salad."

Kurt reached over and caressed the side of Sam's face. "Thank you. It's really good."

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The next evening, Kurt headed to Margaret's place after he changed and grabbed a snack. As soon as Sam opened the door, Blaze grabbed Kurt's hand and practically dragged him down to his bedroom. "Sit right there and I'll tell you my most excellent news," Blaze said in the most regal voice he could manage.

Kurt sat on the bed. Sam sat next to him.

"I," he paused for dramatic effect, "am going to be Simba in our school concert."

"Woo hoo!" Sam cheered and clapped even though he already knew about it.

"Congratulations, Blaze! That's really exciting."

"Will you come watch me?"

"Of course," Kurt said. "Will you sing for me now?"

"Sure, but you and Sam have to sing the extra parts, okay?"

"Okay."

"Kurt, you can be Nala and the choir parts at the end and Sam is Zazu cause we already practiced with Sam being Zazu." Blaze handed Kurt the choir sheet music.

"Got it," Kurt said.

"Plus, Sam can't sing high enough to be Nala."

Kurt laughed.

"We'll skip the talking parts and start with the singing part." Blaze pressed the play button on his CD player and the music started.

"I'm gonna be a mighty king so enemies beware."

"Well, I've never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair."

"I'm gonna be the main event like no king was before. I'm brushin' up on lookin' down. I'm workin' on my roar."

"Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing."

"Oh, I just can't wait to be king."

They sang through the whole song and Blaze took a giant bow at the end.

Sam and Kurt clapped.

"You were great!" Kurt exclaimed.

Blaze climbed up on the bed and sat between them and asked Kurt, "Can you help me make my costume? Please? Mommy already bought the material and stuff. I have the directions and everything."

"Sure," Kurt answered. "We might have to go to our place if we need a sewing machine."

"Oh, Mommy has a sewing machine. It's in her room. If we need it, I can get it out. But one of you will have to carry it because it's REALLY heavy."

"No problem," Sam said.

Blaze hopped down and grabbed a printout off of his desk and handed it to Kurt. "We have to do it like this, but we can do extra stuff to make it look cooler if we want to."

Kurt read through the directions. "Alright. Shall we get started?"

"YES!"

The three of them worked on the costume all evening. Kurt took pictures throughout the process. He took one final picture of Blaze standing against a blank wall in the completed costume, looking as fierce as an 8 year old boy in a homemade lion costume could possibly look, which was not even one bit fierce, but absolutely totally adorable.

"It's perfect," Blaze said looking at himself in the mirror.

"I'm glad you like it," Kurt said. "Should we hang it up now to keep it from getting wrinkled?"

"How long until Mommy's coming back?"

Kurt looked at the clock on the wall. "Not for an hour. Let's hang it up and do something different for a while. You can put it back on when she gets here."

"Alright. We can sing the other songs for the concert or I know, I know!"

"What?" Kurt asked with an incredibly interested face, hoping to match Blaze's level of excitement.

"We can make some capes for my action figures out of the leftover pieces of fabric from the Simba costume."

"Very good idea. Let's hang the costume up and get started on that."

An hour later, they heard the front door open.

"Sam, go tell Mommy to wait on the couch and close her eyes. Kurt, help me get the costume on, please?"

Sam went to catch Margaret before she came down the hall.

"Blaze has a surprise. Sit down and close your eyes."

Margaret smiled and sat down.

Kurt helped Blaze get dressed.

"Are your eyes closed, Mommy?"

"Yes, Blaze."

"Keep them closed until I say." Blaze stood a few feet back from the couch and assumed his completely totally adorable impression of a fierce lion. "Okay. Open your eyes."

"It's fantastic, Blaze! You all did a great job."

Blaze danced around showing off all sides and especially waggling his butt so the tail would swish. "Kurt and Sam helped me practice singing too. Do you want to hear?"

"Of course."

He grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hallway just like he had Kurt. He got all three of them to sit on the bed. And he started the CD again and this time added a lot of flourishes of hand movements and tail swishing.

"That was great, Blaze. You've been working really hard."

He bowed deep and they all clapped again.

"We made capes out of the leftover fabric. Look!" Margaret got up and went to his art table to see all of the drawings and patterns and the final products on the action figures set out like a museum for her to see.

"I see that Kurt showed you how to make the patterns so they would be the right size."

"He did. I learned how to do it myself so I can make more later if I want to."

"That's good. Let Kurt help you hang that back up and then you get your pajamas on because it's time to go to bed."

"Alright, Mommy."

"Did you invite them to your concert?"

"I did, but I didn't know where you put the invitation cards."

"I'll give Sam one. Go ahead and get changed for bed."

Sam followed Margaret out of the room.

"Thank you both for doing that tonight. I could have done it, but it would have taken me all weekend. I'm not very good with projects like that. It looks fantastic and he's super happy with it." She walked over to her desk. "Here's the invitation to the concert. I know he'll be excited that you're coming. It's a week from yesterday."

"We'll be there." Sam stuck the card in his back pocket.

Kurt came down the hallway. "He's changed and ready to be tucked in."

"Thanks for making the costume with him tonight."

"No problem. It was a lot of fun. I took lots of pictures. I'll put them on a CD and Sam can bring it back with him after school tomorrow or the next day."

"Thanks again."

"You're welcome. We'll see you at the concert."

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A week later, they enjoyed watching Blaze and his classmates sing a variety of Disney songs dressed in costumes at the concert. Afterwards, Margaret let him keep his costume on and they all went out to get ice cream together.

"What kind of ice cream would a king order?"

Kurt answered, "His very favorite kind because kings get what they want, right?"

"Right," he sounded relieved, like he thought someone might suggest something that he wouldn't like. He walked up and down the glass case again. "I think mint chocolate chip is perfect for a king."

"Then mint chocolate chip for you," Margaret said.

They all stepped aside and waited for their selections. Once they had them, they found a table and sat down.

"You did a great job, Blaze," Kurt said. "Your diction was excellent."

"What does that mean – diction?"

"Oh, it means that everyone in the audience could understand the words you were singing. It's something that singers have to work on to be good at."

"Oh, well thank you. I did practice a lot."

"And it showed. Practicing makes you even better at what you're naturally good at," Sam said.

"I know," Blaze said. "You tell me all the time. I have to keep doing something to keep being good at it."

"That's right."

"Because 8 year old good isn't the same as 18 year old good. But that doesn't mean that 8 year old good isn't good."

"Exactly."

"I'm excited to be off school next week. We're going to have lots of fun. Mommy got me some new paints and a canvas too."

"That sounds like fun," Kurt said.

"It will be. And we're going swimming. And I got the new music book. It came in the mail this afternoon."

Kurt and Sam just smiled as Blaze chattered and ate his ice cream.

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A week later, Kurt and Sam were folding the laundry they had just pulled out of the dryer.

"So, we're leaving Thursday morning at 6:00 and driving to New Paltz. I got us a room in a motel. We have tours set up for the morning. I made appointments to see a few apartments in the afternoon. Friday we can go back and hang around campus. Saturday and Sunday are in the Catskills. I booked a room in a lodge."

"Really? That sounds cool."

"It will be our first vacation together. A nice romantic weekend in the mountains."

"Sounds perfect."

Sam picked up the basket full of folded clothes and Kurt carried the hang-to-dry clothes that were on hangers up to their apartment. Sam unlocked the door and they went inside. Kurt spread the hanging clothes out on the shower rod.

"Let's pack everything we can tonight. If we need any of this stuff, we can add it tomorrow when we put the toiletries in."

They went around the room grabbing things from their drawers and clothes racks.

"We'll need shoes sturdy enough to hike in. I want to go out and explore."

"Of course, we'll explore. The pictures were beautiful. I've never seen mountains. I'm excited."

"I hadn't thought about that. Growing up in Tennessee, we went to Gatlinburg and the Smokies quite a few times. You'll love it."

Kurt moved in between Sam and the bag he was packing. "I'm sure I will love it. I will be there with you." He kissed him and went back to packing his own stuff. "Margaret wasn't upset that you asked off for Thursday and Friday was she?"

"No, not at all. She figured I would want a couple of free days since I've been watching Blaze six hours a day this week. She took two days off from her job, citing inability to find childcare. She said they didn't seem to mind. Even though I'm taking two days off, I'll be making $30 more this week since I've worked more hours each day, which is cool."

"I'll end up losing money, but it's worth it. I'm really excited."

"Me too. I hope we end up liking the school and the programs. The program descriptions look good. The price is totally doable. We have to get those FAFSAs in soon though."

"I won't get any aid from that, but I know I still need to get it turned in. My parents make way too much money and my dad owns a business. But the tuition there is reasonable enough that I think they can just afford to pay it."

"I should probably get enough in Pell Grants to cover half of my tuition and I got that renewable art scholarship offer that Miss Ramirez helped me apply for. I can use that at any NY state university. So, I should be fine. I can work all summer to get the money for my books and the rest of the tuition."

"I'll work this summer and save up so that we can both work as little as possible during the school year so we can focus on doing well in school."

Sam put the last of his stuff in his backpack. "I think that's it."

"I'm done too."

They both put their bags on the desk. Kurt moved the clothes off the shower rod and laid them on the kitchen counter so they could shower. He put them back afterwards, checked the door, turned the lights off and got into bed.

"I never thought I would be the sleep naked kind of guy," Kurt said as he got into bed.

"I guess I never thought about it, but I do like it a lot. Turn the book on. I'm ready to hear the next part."

Kurt turned it on and rolled back over and snuggled up with Sam while they listened.

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They spent Wednesday evening cooking and packing shelf-stable food and snacks for their trip. They wanted to be able to stay at the cabin the whole weekend without needing to drive to get food. They made banana bread, carrot raisin bread, packed bags of peeled and sliced carrots, celery, grapes, apples, oranges, trail mix, canned chicken and mayo packs, a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread. They packed their water filtering pitcher they used at home and their reusable water bottles.

"I think that's more than enough food for us," Sam said.

"Me too, but I packed extra since we're going to go hiking. We might get extra hungry."

"I think we still have a few things that we might need with us. Like our birth certificates and our social security cards," Sam said.

"I'm not sure why we would need them."

"Me neither, but the school might need them for something. I'd rather not have to delay signing something because we didn't bring them. I had to have them when I registered for high school. It just seems like we might need them."

"I'll grab them. We'll put them in a zip-top bag and um... grab a DVD case. That will keep them from getting bent up in one of our bags."

"Good idea." Sam kissed Kurt and went and grabbed a DVD that they might want to watch if the motel or lodge had a DVD player.

Kurt grabbed their documents out of the mini safe they kept them in and put them in the bag and then in the DVD case Sam handed him. He handed it back and Sam put it in his bag. They both checked their bags and all they were missing was their toiletries.

"Once we shower and put the stuff from the bathroom in, we're good to go," Sam said.

"I'm so excited," Kurt said, rocking up on toes and back down.

"Me too. Kind of scared too. I really want to like it there."

"Let's shower and try to sleep. We're leaving early."

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Sam drove and Kurt played navigator. They made it in less that two hours, which gave them plenty of time to park and find where the art department was and look around a bit before their tour started.

The school had set up tours of their main departments that started every 90 minutes with four slots each day. Kurt and Sam toured the art and music departments during the two morning sessions.

A prospective student luncheon with student activity group booths was at noon. Speakers presented information about student housing, meal plans, parking options, health plans, and financial aid. Folders were handed out that contained forms that needed to be filled out and turned in. Food was set up on tables in the atrium where the student groups had their information tables set up. Kurt and Sam grabbed sandwiches and walked around looking at the different clubs and groups. The speakers also had tables where students could ask more detailed questions.

While Sam went to get them drinks, Kurt walked up to the student housing table and asked some questions. Kurt met him on his way back and they browsed through the clubs and groups and picked up a few flyers and put them in the folders they had been given.

Sam wanted to talk to the man who had talked about financial aid, so he and Kurt got in line. There were quite a few people wanting to ask questions. Sam picked up a few information sheets that gave more detailed information about grants and eligibility requirements. They grabbed a couple of cookies and 2 bananas and headed out of the building to go check out some of the classes that were in session.

They walked back to the art building first and they quietly walked through the halls and observed some of the classes. Sam talked to a few students in the halls that were studying between classes. They walked to the main music building next and did the same thing. Kurt talked to a group of students that were outside singing when they finished the song. He and Sam sat on a nearby bench afterwards and listened to them sing another song before leaving the area.

Kurt wasn't very talkative, which wasn't what Sam had expected since he seemed to be really enthusiastic earlier in the day. Sam wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist and closed the gap between them. Kurt looked over and smiled and wrapped his arm around Sam's waist.

"Why so pensive?"

"I was looking through the papers in the folder that we were given and I spoke to the housing director when you went to get us drinks."

"Oh?"

"First year students have to live on campus."

"Okay."

"And they won't guarantee roommate choices. We can put each other on our forms, but that doesn't mean that we'll necessarily get paired together. We could even end up in a 3-person room."

"Not what you want or what I want."

"For me it goes beyond not wanting it. I can't pass Sam. I can't have to share a bathroom with straight guys I don't know. You can pass. You would be okay. I know the school doesn't tolerate hate speech and whatnot, but no one can police what goes on in every suite in the dorm buildings."

"Are there any exceptions?"

"Only married first year students can live off campus because the school doesn't offer married student housing on campus."

"So, let's get married," Sam stated matter-of-factly.

"Well that is the plan. The future plan."

"Well, maybe the future has arrived a little sooner than we had expected."

Sam stopped, so Kurt stopped. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and pulled him close. "I love you and you love me and we want to live together. At this point, we've both decided that this is the school that fits both of our needs academically and is financially feasible. If we both have to live on campus and pay room and board, our overall cost is going to go up, right?"

"Let's sit down over there and let me look."

They walked to a bench and Kurt pulled out the sheet with the housing and meal plan info on it. $27,000 for us to both live on campus in a 2-person room."

"And how much had you calculated for us to live in one of the apartments we're getting ready to go look at?"

"About $15,000 and that's for 12 months, not just 10."

"That's a big difference."

"We'd have to add close to $4000 to cover the cost of living somewhere each summer and during school breaks when the dorms are closed. So, living on campus would double our living expenses. We can't afford that."

"No, we can't. So, let's get married."

"Like today?"

"Sure."

"You're serious?"

"Well, rarely," he said with a huge grin. "But about this, yes."

Kurt pulled his phone out. He looked up requirements to get married in New York.

"Well, this says we have to go to the county clerk's office. And there's a 24-hour waiting period. So, if we look up where the county clerk's office is, we can fill out the forms and go back tomorrow afternoon for the actual ceremony."

"Okay. So, let's go to the county clerk's office and see what we need to do."

"You're actually really serious."

"I am actually really serious." Sam leaned over and kissed him on the cheek while he was looking at his phone to find the address.

"Here's the address and a map of how to get there from here."

Sam grabbed his hand and said, "Then off we go."

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"So, if we come back tomorrow at 2:30, the ceremony can be performed?"

"As long as you sign up for the slot now. Someone could come in at any point in time and take the time slot. We're not usually that busy, but if you want a guaranteed time, then you need to sign up."

"Thank you."

They took the papers they were handed and sat down on a bench to fill them out. They finished and turned them back in. They each paid half of the $40 license fee. Kurt filled their names in on the 2:30 time slot for the next afternoon.

"What happens if we don't come in tomorrow?" Kurt asked.

"Nothing. The license is good for 60 days. If you choose to have the ceremony performed somewhere else, there is a waiting period to get the marriage certificate because any ceremonies performed by another officiator have to be validated before an official certificate will be issued. You'll get the marriage certificate in the mail about 12-15 days after the ceremony if you have it performed somewhere else. If you change your minds and decide not to get married, the license expires in 60 days and the only thing that happens is that you're out $40 because the license fee is non-refundable."

"Thank you for the information," Kurt said. He took Sam's hand and they left the building. "We need to get moving because we have three appointments starting in about 10 minutes to see apartments. Hopefully, were not too late."

They got in the car and Kurt directed Sam to the first apartment they were going to look at. It was the most expensive, but also the largest with an actual separate bedroom area.

They took photos, looked around the neighborhood a little, thanked the leasing agent and left to go to their next appointment. They repeated the same process. The third apartment was the best value because it included all of the utilities, including internet, in the rent.

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Kurt and Sam rolled the car windows down and sat in the car to talk about the three options they had seen.

"Well, the last two places said that by rental laws in this area, they can only rent a studio apartment to one individual or two related people - not two unrelated people. So, either we have to rent a 1-bedroom apartment or be related," Kurt said.

Sam had a big goofy grin on his face and leaned over and kissed Kurt. "And by tomorrow at this time, if we keep our appointment, we will have been related for an hour and a half or so."

"I liked this last place. It has a little more space than the place we have now and it has a real kitchen. It's small, but it's got upper and lower cabinets with a countertop and a full size stove and refrigerator. And it's not even a half-mile from campus. It would only take 10 minutes to walk to campus."

"Let's go back over to the office and find out when they have openings."

They rolled the windows up, got out and walked over to the office and went inside.

"Welcome back, gentlemen. Did you have some other questions?"

"We'd like to know when you have availability for this summer."

"Well, we run 10- and 12-month leases. And then we run short-term leases for the summer for students who live in the dorms during the school year, but who stay for the summer. So, we have leases that start in August and run through May, leases that run from August-July, and the short-term leases are for June and July."

"So, in theory, we could get one of the short-term leases for June and July and then sign a lease for August through the next July."

"Yes. Let me look to see if I have any apartments that fit that scenario. Give me a few minutes please."

"Sure. We'll go outside and look around a bit more and come back in a few minutes."

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"Your graduation ceremony is at 11:00 on June 1st. So, we could pack the apartment the night before and rent a one-way U-Haul and load it right after we get back from the ceremony. It only takes a couple of hours to get here. We could unload it and return the truck before closing, so we only pay one day's rental."

"That would work. That would give Santana the rest of the weekend to move her stuff in. And she could start the lease at the beginning of the month. She'd have three months before she'd have to move out if she decides not to stay."

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"We do have a couple of units that will fit what you're looking for. Would you like to see where they're located?"

"That would be great. Thanks," Kurt said.

"Okay, we have this unit in the back to the right," he said as he led them down the sidewalk. "It's C21. It's on the backside, upper floor. Some people really like that area because it's nice and shaded because of the trees on the property behind the buildings. The other available unit is back the other direction. It's unit A24. The farthest one down, on the upper right." He pointed. "Building A gets a lot of sunlight."

"I'm a painter. I'd definitely want the one in building A. It's so much easier to paint in natural light."

"I sew and do costuming, so natural light is better for me as well. I do have a couple of questions about the apartments and this area in general. Do you have a lot of noise complaints? Like can the people downstairs hear the people upstairs talking?"

"No, no. These apartments are actually quite old and they're solid. They have concrete block walls between the units. They've just been updated in the last five years to be more modern looking. The floors were refinished, new wiring was put in, with cable internet in all of the buildings and we put in about twice as many electrical outlets in each apartment as they originally had. We put in the mini-kitchens with the new cabinets and appliances you saw. New toilets."

"My other question is more about this area. We live in New York City right now, but previously we lived in a small town, with a lot of small town issues, like rampant homophobia. I am curious what we can expect in this apartment complex as well as the town in general."

"We've never had any complaints. I can't say that everyone is accepting, but it's never been a problem here. This complex is made up of single working people, married couples that work or one or both are graduate students, and single graduate students. Most of the younger undergraduates live on campus and move to bigger places than this when they do move off campus. Since we can't allow 2 non-related people to rent studio apartments, most of the undergraduates will end up in complexes that have 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments and split the cost. They could live on campus for the cost of living here alone. And as for the town itself, there's a huge Pride parade every year. Lots of people attend."

"Thank you for all of your help. We have a few decisions to make. We'll let you know about the apartment by tomorrow afternoon before we leave town. Oh, one last question. Is the deposit one month's rent?"

"It's the first and last month's rent. So, $1600. You get half back at your move out inspection if there's no damage to the apartment."

"Alright. Do you take debit cards or do we need to bring cash or a check?"

"Cash or bank check, no personal checks. I need to hear from you in 24 hours or you'll lose your place on the list." He wrote the name down that the check needed to be made out to if they wanted to use a check and handed it to Kurt.

"Thanks again," Sam said.

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They headed to their motel to check in. They grabbed a couple of salads on the way. They carried their bags to their room. They took their shoes off and plopped on the bed, leaned back against the headboard, and ate while they talked.

"So, did you like the last place enough to go ahead and take it tomorrow?" Kurt asked. "It's little bigger than our place now, just shaped a little more square and it has the built-in kitchen and that long built-in closet, so it definitely has more storage than our current place. The windows are wide and short, compared with our tall narrow windows, but I'm pretty sure that I can cut our curtains in half lengthwise and turn them into panels that will fit the windows."

"We can leave the kitchen cabinet and countertop behind for Santana, but not the shelf on top. I have an idea for that. I need some paper and a pencil to sketch the layout at some point. The deposit is high though. I don't have $800 extra dollars to pay half of the deposit."

"That's okay. I can pay it. I still have money left over in a savings account from selling my Navigator. It's an emergency fund, but I can put the $800 from my deposit on our current apartment back in the savings account when we get it back. And then we can deposit the $800 would normally pay for June's rent into the savings account as well."

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure. So, do you like it enough to live there or would you rather get one of the bigger places?"

"We've been fine where we are for the last three and a half months and the last place is a little bigger. I think we'll be fine. I'd rather pay less each month and maybe have a little money left over to do things together."

"That's how I feel, but I wanted to make sure. I don't want you to feel cramped up and then be miserable all the time."

Sam leaned over and gently kissed Kurt and sat back up. "I like living with you. I won't be miserable. If we feel like we need some space at any point in time, one of us can sit on one side of the room divider and the other can sit on the other side. But I would honestly rather be where I can touch you in some way." He moved his left foot and started playing footsie with Kurt. "Even if it's just your foot."

"Do you really want to marry me tomorrow? I don't want you to feel pressured to make choice like this. I know you said yes a couple of weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure you didn't think I meant in two weeks when I asked."

"Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. It's all the same. You and me together. We were going to live together. That had been the plan. Living with you was why I moved to New York." Sam kissed him again.

"So, on a scale of 1-10, how upset will your parents be that you eloped?"

"1 or 2? I mean it's not that they don't care, but when I went to Lima and moved in with your family, they pretty much considered me an adult at that point. My parents quit parenting me the day I returned to Lima. That was nearly a year and a half ago."

"So, they won't be angry that they missed your wedding?"

"Maybe disappointed? A little, but they aren't coming to graduation either. It's too far away. I'm more concerned about you. You were really into planning Burt and Carole's wedding. Are you going to be okay with this? When you look back in five years, I don't want you to feel like you gave up what you had always wanted."

"I've realized a lot about the things I always wanted. Most of them were superficial and while I still love fashion and the art and spectacle of it, I've seen a lot of the process of it in the last 6 months. I will probably always enjoy picking up a fashion magazine and seeing the amazing creations, but a lot of it comes at a high price - girls who hate themselves, who practically starve themselves to get a chance to model those fashions. Their bodies become a commodity rather than the skin they live in. They become plastic, like living mannequins rather than people. They forego fun and living in order to stay perfect enough to appear in another photo shoot. I love to create and design. I'd love to see people love something that I've created for them personally or for their role in a production, but I would never want someone to starve themselves to have the chance to wear something I've designed. I was going somewhere with this. Weddings." He took a few more bites. "Weddings lose the point when the people involved yell at each other because the tux isn't the right color or the bride screams at one of the bridesmaids because she gained five pounds and her dress is too tight. Or someone bought the wrong shade of pantyhose. Or someone forgot their earrings."

"I get it. This has something to do with you changing your mind about wanting to be on Broadway too."

"It does. It's one of the things I thought I really wanted. After hanging around NYADA and hearing some of the instructors yelling at the students and students gossiping about other students, it was like this big wake up call for me that in order to be at the top, I'm probably going to have to shove other people off the ladder. I don't think I can do that. I sing because I love to sing. I design and create for the same reason. I don't think there would be any joy in a role for me if I had to get it by any other means than just doing my best. I don't want to spend my life in a career where everyone I spend time around views me as a rival. I know what that's like and I'm not interested in spending my whole life living that way. I've had enough of frenemies already."

"I can understand that."

"So, your original question was whether I will look back in five years and wish we had planned a big wedding. No, I don't want that anymore. Whether I will look back and wish we had waited until we could have our families with us - I don't know. I mean we can't know how long it will take for Ohio to legalize same-sex marriage or how long it will be for a decision to be made at the national level. If it became legal everywhere next week, I might feel a little sad that we didn't have a ceremony in Ohio somewhere that both families could attend. But that doesn't appear to be on next week's to-do list for the Ohio legislature. It could be months or years before it's legal in all 50 states. We're choosing to act on the current situation. We live in New York. Same-sex marriage is legal here. Our parents are too far away to easily participate. So, we get married because we want to tomorrow or we opt to wait. We have 60 days to use the license."

"I want to move here with you. I want to confirm my acceptance to the university. I want to do this together. Let's get married tomorrow." Sam put their empty bowls on the side table.

"Okay." Kurt took Sam's hands kissed Sam's knuckles. He let go of his hands and scooted closer. Sam moved his arm so Kurt could lay his head on his shoulder and then wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulders. Kurt started to sing. He changed the words just slightly because he didn't feel like "found you" fit their situation.

.

 _How can I believe,_

 _That my heart would find someone like you?_

 _You see me, the real me,_

 _No in-betweens, I had nowhere to hide._

 _You took away the walls around me._

 _Made me feel safe to share my truth._

 _._

 _I see the heavens open._

 _A heart that once was broken is holding nothing back._

 _Now that I have you._

 _You hold me like a prayer. You touch me everywhere._

 _A lifetime just isn't enough to love you true._

 _Now that I have you._

 _Now that I have you._

 _._

 _I do believe we're meant to be._

 _Our chemistry will last forever._

 _And through the years._

 _We'll see some tears._

 _We'll conquer fears._

 _And together we'll grow._

 _Looking your eyes,_

 _They tell me,_

 _I no longer have to be alone._

 _._

 _You see me, the real me._

 _You believe in me._

 _._

 _I see the heavens open._

 _A heart that once was broken is holding nothing back._

 _Now that I have you._

 _You hold me like a prayer. You touch me everywhere._

 _A lifetime just isn't enough to love you true._

 _Now that I have you._

 _Now that I have you._

.

"I love listening to you sing." Sam kissed the top of his head. "Thank you. It was beautiful."

Kurt moved a bit and turned so he could kiss Sam. They shared gentle slow kisses full of love and warmth. Kurt eventually pulled away and leaned back against the headboard again.

"I think we can take some photos of ourselves and maybe get someone to take a few of us and we can make one of those collages using the one-hour photo kiosks and put our names and the date on it. We can keep one for ourselves and put it in a frame and then we can mail our parents one too."

"That's a good idea - maybe a couple from the courthouse, one with the marriage certificate and our hands with our rings, and a few from the mountains this weekend. The mini vacation you planned for us in the mountains will be our honeymoon."

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Their motel offered a free continental breakfast, which turned out to be coffee, fresh fruit, cereal, milk, and cartons of yogurt. They ate and headed back to campus to finish up what they could. They signed all of the required paperwork. They put down the address of the apartment they were planning to rent as their local address. They each met with an academic advisor briefly and got the departmental requirements for graduation with course lists and descriptions. They applied for a parking permit for Sam's car. They filled out every paper they were handed all morning.

They went to the housing department last to get whatever forms they would need to sign to be eligible to live off campus. They decided ahead of time that they would not mention the fact that they were not quite yet married while working through the process.

"In order to make this official, we'll have to have a copy of your marriage certificate."

"Yes, ma'am. We'll get one. Does it need to be turned in today? Or can we mail it in?" Kurt asked.

"You can mail it in. Or bring it in. Either way. Please do so by the end of the month, so that you both don't get assigned a dorm room and billed for one when room assignments are made next month."

"Yes, ma'am," Sam said.

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They found a place to have lunch and mostly ate without talking, but Sam kept playing footsie with Kurt under the table, making him laugh.

"I'm not sure I can go out to eat with you anymore if you're wearing flip flops," Kurt said quietly.

"And ruin all my fun?" Sam asked as he ran his foot up Kurt's bare leg.

"I would never ruin your fun, maybe just postpone it a bit," Kurt glanced at his lap and back up quickly.

"Oh." Sam slipped his flip flop back on.

Kurt focused on eating, willing away his acute attack of nerves. It was getting close to 2:00 and he was getting edgy. They finished up and Kurt grabbed their trays and trash and dumped them.

Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt before he had stepped away from where the used trays were stacked. Sam nuzzled into Kurt's neck and kissed him. Kurt was really surprised by how Sam didn't seem the least bit fazed by being affectionate in public. He was always affectionate with Kurt in public, except that brief period after Santana moved in before they told her they were dating. He had been completely hands-off when they were in the neighborhood then.

Kurt had been the more hesitant one at first, not being used to any PDA, but Sam's confidence pushed had Kurt's hesitance away. Sam loved him and clearly wanted other people to know. It was just another part of what made Sam more than he thought he'd ever find in a partner.

"Come on, you koala, we have somewhere to be," Kurt teased him.

Sam kissed his neck one more time, and then released him, instead taking his hand and following Kurt out of the restaurant. They pulled up near the courthouse and parked. They had laid out the nicest shirts they had brought with them that went together in the backseat. They got out and quickly put the button up shirts on. They stopped in the bathroom on the way in the building to do any last minute touch ups to their hair and to tuck their shirts in.

They waited until their names were called. They were given a sheet with some choices of vows to use or they could mark that they were going to use their own with a place to write them on the sheet.

"I hadn't considered that we'd be given the option to write our own," Kurt said.

"Me neither. I'm going to work on it for a few minutes and see."

"Okay. If we can't, it's okay. I like the second choice on the list better than the others. What about you?"

"Me too."

They both sat and thought. They each wrote something on their sheets. Kurt took a photo of what he wrote and Sam did the same. They turned their papers in and studied their vows until their names were called.

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"Do you, Samuel Evans, come before me today of your own free will wishing to marry Kurt Hummel."

"Yes, your Honor."

"Do you, Kurt Hummel, come before me today of your own free will wishing to marry Samuel Evans."

"Yes, your Honor."

"Please say the vows you are making to each other today."

Kurt and Sam faced each other, reached out and took each other's hands. They looked directly at each other as they spoke.

"I, Samuel Evans, take you, Kurt Hummel, to be my lawful husband. I will always be honest, kind, patient, and forgiving as we work together to achieve our goals and face whatever lies ahead. I promise to be faithful to you and love you for as long as we both shall live."

"I, Kurt Hummel, take you, Samuel Evans, to be my wedded husband. I will encourage you, laugh with you, and comfort you in times of sorrow. I will love and trust you through whatever life may bring our way. I promise to joyfully be your partner in life. Nothing will ever be more important to me than you are. I promise to be faithfully yours always."

"Do you, Kurt, accept the vows that Sam has made to you today?"

"I do."

"Do you, Sam, accept the vows that Kurt has made to you today?"

"I do."

"Please exchange the rings you have as confirmation of the vows you made today."

Kurt offered his left hand to Sam.

Sam said, "Kurt, let this ring be a visible and constant symbol of my promise to love you and only you as long as I live." He slipped the ring onto Kurt's finger.

Sam offered Kurt his left hand.

"Sam, let this ring be reminder that I love you with all that I am and that I will always be faithful to you." He slipped the ring onto Sam's finger.

"As a witness to the vows you have made to each other, and by the authority granted to me by the state of New York, I now pronounced you legally married. Congratulations."

Kurt stepped close enough to Sam to close the gap between them and they gently kissed. They turned back toward the judge, who had them sign the marriage certificate and then the witness and the judge signed it after they did.

"Thank you," Sam said to the judge and shook his hand.

"Yes, thank you. This is a dream come true," Kurt said. He also shook the judge's hand.

"You're both quite welcome. I wish you all the best."

Kurt got his camera back from the court-provided witness. There was an empty wall at the back of the room on the way out that looked like it was designed for couples to be able to take a post-ceremony photo. The witness approached them as they attempted to arrange themselves for a decent selfie.

"Here, let me," he said. They stood in much more photogenic pose and the witness took a few shots of them.

Kurt scrolled through the photos. "Thank you."

"No problem. Congratulations." He walked back up to the front to get ready for the next couple.

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Kurt and Sam took the signed certificate out to the customer service area to turn it in and get official copies. They sat down again to wait for the paperwork to be processed and the copies they paid for to be ready to pick up.

"We did it," Kurt said.

"We did." Sam kissed him. "We're married."

Kurt scooted closer to him on the bench they were sitting on and leaned into him, took his hand and intertwined their fingers. He opened the photos on his camera and scrolled through them and they looked at them together.

"He did a good job. The photos are actually decent. I like how he had us intertwine our left hands so that the Certificate of Marriage Registration across the top of the certificate is showing while our hands are covering over our address."

"I like that one too," Sam agreed. "We can work on a cool collage when we get back home. We'll add some of our photos from this weekend. And maybe we can write our vows out in a cool font and include them too."

"I love you." Kurt said as he lean towards Sam and quickly kissed him, something that surprised Sam a little. Other than handholding, Kurt was less apt to be physically affectionate in public than Sam was.

"I love you too."

"I think a photocopy of an official copy is all that we need to give the school. I think we need to head there first. I bet that office closes before the apartment rental office."

"Sounds good to me."

Their names were called a few minutes later. They picked up their certificates and Kurt rolled them as neatly as possible, hoping to get them to the car without wrinkling them. As soon as they got to the car, Kurt pulled out the folder that had all of the school paperwork in it and put the certificates inside it.

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They headed off to the student housing office. The secretary made two copies of their certificate and put one in each of their files.

They headed to the apartment rental office next. They signed the short-term lease and the full-year lease. They paid the deposit with the bank check they had picked up that morning right after they left the motel.

"Thank you gentlemen. I hope you enjoy living here." He handed them a copy of their lease and a receipt for their deposit.

"We hope so too. Do you know the window measurements or have a tape measure we could use? I'd like to have curtains ready when we move in." Kurt asked.

"Sure. Here's a floor plan with the measurements of the apartment and the windows. I should have given you a copy of that with your lease. Sorry about that. There are guidelines about what can be used on the walls and window frames." He handed Kurt a sheet of paper that he had pulled out of a file folder in his desk drawer. "Will you be able to arrive before 4:00 on the first?"

"I'm not sure, why?" Kurt answered.

"Well, that's when the office closes for the day. We have shorter hours on Saturday."

"Alright, then we'll make sure we're here before 4:00," Sam said.

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They left the apartment complex and started their drive toward the mountains. It was still light outside and they were talking while enjoying the scenic drive.

"We need to talk about finances. When we move, we can't split the expenses evenly. We need to split them equitably."

"What do you mean?"

"I can make more than 3 times an hour what you can make. I want us to deposit our checks into a joint account, holding back whatever amount we decide on for personal discretionary use. And then I'd like us to decide on an amount to save each month as well. We'll pay all of our living expenses out of the joint account."

"That's not fair."

"Okay, think about it like this. We have 24 bags of groceries to carry up to the apartment we live in now."

"Alright."

"You can carry four bags at a time, but I can only carry two because you are stronger than I am."

"I'm not sure that's accurate, but go ahead with your story."

"We have 24 bags. If you carry four and I carry two, we can get all of the bags into the apartment in four trips up the stairs. But if we do it fairly and we each carry half of the bags, I'll have to make six trips up the stairs while you only had to make three trips up. Us splitting the 24 into 12 each make it fair, but it's not equitable."

"Okay."

"If we put in the same amount of work at our jobs, the reverse would be true. To contribute equally to our expenses, you would have to work three times as many hours as I would. I just promised to put you and our relationship above everything else. That means above any money you could contribute by working more hours. I would much rather us work equal number of hours and allow that to be what's fair about it rather than comparing our monetary contributions themselves. I want to have time with you."

"Alright."

"Your contribution to our monthly expenses will be equitable and each of us working the same number of hours to provide for ourselves is fair."

"I agree. As long as you will accept the same logic if our situation is ever reversed. If there even comes a time when my hourly pay is more than yours that you will accept an equitable division of the expenses."

"That would only be reasonable. I agree. From my current estimate, I think we'll both need to work about 15 hours a week. Of course, we need to find jobs as soon as possible. I'll start by looking online at the local newspaper's classifieds. If I don't see anything, I'll call all of the repair shops in town and see if anyone is hiring. I'll work more hours this summer. We both can. But during the school year, I think 15 is about the most we can handle. We'll also see what kind of financial aid you get offered. If you get anything beyond what you need for tuition, fees and books, you can use it to put toward the rent."

"I want to stop at a Walgreen's or Target or something. I want to get us some drinks and maybe a couple of those fancy white chocolate bars you like so much. Could you see where the closest one is? I don't want to drive too far out or there won't be anything like that."

"Alright." Kurt checked and found the closest store and gave Sam directions to get there.

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Sam pushed the cart through the store. He grabbed some juice, the chocolate bars, and a bag of white chocolate pretzels. He knew his main goal, but was still working up to leading Kurt there. When he finally got there, Kurt looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Sam just nodded. Kurt moved swiftly and decisively, obviously knowing what was needed. They got in line to check out. They paid and went back to the car and got in.

"You know we don't have to, right? There's no time table just because we got married sooner than we had expected to."

"I know. I had already been to a couple of stores in the neighborhood looking, but I really didn't know what to get. I wanted to surprise you, but I figured it would be better if you chose since you know what we actually need."

"As long as you're sure and not doing this because you think I want you to or because you feel some sort of wedding night pressure to do it."

"Nope, not at all. I just really want to. I mean I was looking for supplies before we left. I went to the free clinic and picked up the how-to brochures a few weeks ago."

"Well, that's good, that you've made an informed decision."

"How long until we get to the cabin?"

"About 45 minutes I think. We should get there before dark. Maybe we can find a nice place to see the sunset over the mountains. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I looked through the website. There's a restaurant about a mile from the cabin that serves Tex-Mex food. I thought we might go there for dinner to celebrate."

"That sounds good. It's been a long time since we've gone out for a nice sit-down dinner."


	7. Chapter 7

"It's beautiful up here," Kurt said while looking out over the wooded area below.

"It really is. I think we should make coming here an annual event. Maybe twice this year if they have any fall openings left. I imagine it books up quickly for the fall foliage colors."

"If we come back, you should bring your art stuff and paint. If they don't have rules against it, you could probably get people to buy the paintings. You're really good, you know."

"I'm starting to believe you. I got into college and I got an art scholarship. That has to mean something."

Kurt stepped in front of him and wrapped his arms around Sam's waist and leaned into him. "It means that you're good, very good."

Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt, only instead of doing it the way he usually did, he wrapped them so that his hands ended up on Kurt's butt.

Kurt gave him the raised eyebrow and Sam just laughed.

"We're in the woods alone. Surely you don't have a hands off your backside in the woods rule that I don't know about do you?" Sam asked and winked at him.

"No, I suppose not." He laughed.

"What about rules about me putting other parts of my body on yours?" Sam whispered in his ear.

Kurt shivered. "Out here? In the open?"

"You're wearing a jacket, I'm sure we can find place where no one could see even though there aren't any other people nearby."

"Why not?" Kurt said while blushing profusely.

"Now, there's an adventuresome spirit." Sam smiled and winked at him. "Down this way. Sit there, no one can see us from the path, if anyone comes down it."

Kurt unsnapped his jacket. Sam unzipped Kurt's pants. A few minutes later, they reversed their positions.

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"The food was really good. That was a lot of fun," Kurt said as he unlocked the door to the room.

"I'm glad we tried it. Every time we come back we should try one new place." Sam closed and locked the door behind them. He went around the room and closed all of the curtains.

"I like that idea. This time, I just mostly want to spend time together and do some hiking. Maybe another time we'll check out some of the stores, like the antique shop and stuff."

Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt. Kurt leaned into him and nuzzled his neck and started placing small, soft kisses on Sam's neck. He pulled back a little and moved the kissing to Sam's lips. Gentle, very gentle kisses. He ran his hands lightly through Sam's hair. "I love you."

Sam ran his fingers gently along Kurt's back, eventually untucking Kurt's shirt and unbuttoning it so he could run his hands along Kurt's skin instead of the shirt fabric. "I love you too. Why don't you get things ready out here for us to go to bed and I'll go get started in the bathroom. I'll tell you when I'm ready for you to come in."

"Alright." They kissed one more time and each of them took some stuff out of their shopping back from earlier.

Sam went in the bathroom. Kurt opened his bag and got out the battery operated candles and put them on the nightstands, but didn't turn them on yet. He folded the covers back on the bed. He put their food out on top of the dresser and put their clothes in a dresser drawer and their backpacks in another drawer. He plugged their phones in to charge and set them to silent. He stripped down to his underwear and put the dirty clothes in the bag from the store and stuck them in the dresser as well. He double-checked the door and the curtains, just to pass time.

"Kurt," Sam called, opening the bathroom door just a little bit.

Kurt went in the bathroom.

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"Wait for just a minute." Kurt came out of the bathroom with a dry towel wrapped around him and turned off the lamp and turned the candles on. He laid the towel across the bed and lay down. "Turn the light in there off and come on out." Kurt started some instrumental music playlist on his phone.

Sam lay down next to Kurt and snuggled up. He laid his head on Kurt's chest and traced patterns with his index finger. Kurt ran his hand through Sam's hair.

Sam tipped his head up and scooted up just a bit so he could kiss Kurt more easily. The kissing grew passionate quite quickly. Kurt rolled them so that Sam was on his back. "If at any time, you want to stop, we will. No pressure. Even if we're already in the middle, okay?"

"I know. I want this. With you."

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Kurt came back with a warm washcloth from the bathroom and cleaned Sam up and put it back in the bathroom.

He got back in bed. He kissed Sam and they lay facing each other continuing to kiss. "Are you alright?"

"More than alright. I'm all for another round as soon as I catch my breath completely."

Sam was kissing Kurt quite enthusiastically. "The brochures were underwhelmingly descriptive of just how amazing it feels when done well. When you said you'd make it good for me, you weren't kidding."

"It's an act of love and sharing pleasure between us." Kurt dropped his voice and whispered in Sam's ear, "And I aim to please."

"Oh, your aim is spot on." Sam kissed down Kurt's neck and whispered in Kurt's ear, "So spot on that no hands were needed. I always thought that was some kind of myth." Sam licked his ear, sending chills down Kurt's arm.

"Mmm. Not a myth," he whispered in Sam's ear and started kissing down his neck.

After a second round, they were both tired. Kurt cleaned them up again and Sam turned the candles off. It had been a long eventful day. They lay back down and snuggled, holding each other close and fell asleep.

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They didn't set an alarm for the next morning, but ended up waking up fairly early. They decided to shower and get dressed. They packed up food and drinks in one of their backpacks and headed outside for an early morning walk. They ate sitting on a fallen tree near the edge of the trail they were following. It was early enough in the season that the trees were just starting to bud. They hiked until they got to a waterfall area and found another log to sit on and observe the beauty around them.

"It's really amazing here. It's so peaceful. I've enjoyed living in the city. It was a huge change from Lima and it was a nice change in a way. I've learned a lot about life, and about myself." He squeezed Sam's hand. "But I'm ready to move on."

"I've learned a lot about myself too. In the last four months, I've been happier than I've been, ever - with you. I'm ready to face college. I think we're going to like it. We'll get to study what we love to do."

"I think the hardest part will be going back to the city and making it through the next 8 weeks. We decided to do something that is going to end up burning bridges that most likely won't be rebuilt. And I honestly don't see any way to avoid it. I'm pretty sure that Finn will not be happy for us. He tried to keep us apart from the very beginning. Unless he's had a huge change of heart since then - I guess we'll find out."

"Would you rather not tell people?"

"Sam, look at me."

He turned and looked away from the water.

"I'm not hiding that I love you unless you don't want people to know, in which case I will do whatever it takes to protect what you want kept private."

"I'm not hiding anything. I love you. I want to be with you. If I didn't or if I had doubts, I wouldn't have done what we did yesterday - afternoon OR last night."

"Alright then. No hiding. I want to take a picture of the two of us here." Kurt slipped the backpack off, sat on a tree trunk, took out two juice boxes and used them as a makeshift stand to keep the camera upright and framed the shot. "Move that way one step. Perfect. Stand right there." Kurt moved around the stump and stood next to Sam. He wrapped his arm around Sam's waist and Sam did the same. They looked at the camera and waited long enough and Kurt went to check to see if it took. He grabbed it and brought it over to show Sam.

"That looks good."

"I agree. We look good together." Kurt kissed him. "Correction. We ARE good together. You are amazing." Kiss. "Funny." Kiss. "Kind." Kiss. "Smart." Kiss. "Generous." Kiss. "And totally sexy." Each kiss Kurt had given him made Sam take a small step back and on the last one Sam had his back to a tree. Kurt extended his arms, one on each side, pinning Sam to the tree. "So sexy." He opened the kiss up and Sam happily joined in the passionate kissing. They paused to catch their breath, holding each other close. Kurt started kissing Sam's neck. He leaned back to look Sam in the eyes. "I love you." He kissed him gently and leaned back to pull his phone out of his pocket. "It's 1:00. We should head back to the lodge. I don't want to be out still when it gets dark. I know that's not 'til after 7:00, but we left at 8:00. I know we've been dawdling and kissing, but I want to continue the dawdling and kissing on the way back too."

Sam gave Kurt one quick kiss and took his hand. He walked over to the stump and picked up the backpack. "Do you want anything to eat or drink before we continue on?"

"Maybe some trail mix."

"Trail mix it is," he said and looked through the front pocket and grabbed one for Kurt and one for himself. He opened Kurt's and handed it to him, and then opened his own. He put the backpack on and grabbed Kurt's hand. He spun Kurt like they were doing some kind of dance. Kurt caught on and spun back into him. Sam kissed him when he got close enough. "I love you too." He spun him back so they were side by side and started walking along the trail again.

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They were both exhausted when they got back to the lodge. They showered and packed their clothes away after checking the clothes for ticks. They got out the food they'd brought and whipped up chicken salad sandwiches with chips. After they finished eating and cleaned everything up, they propped the pillows up on their bed and snuggled close.

"Can we get a dog someday?" Kurt asked.

"I think we should get two. So they can keep each other company when we're not home."

"Mmm. After we finish school maybe we can get them then."

"I have to keep reminding myself that this real. I passed those stupid state tests, I got into college, I'm with you, and now we're married. We have a new apartment waiting for us."

"It's real. I'm so glad you left Lima and came to live with me. It's been a whirlwind, but yet seems like forever too. Like I'm right where I'm supposed to be. This feeling of peace is so weird, but definitely welcome. No one has ever made me feel the way you do."

"We're like peanut butter and apples."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

"Everyone thinks that peanut butter belongs with jelly. People hear 'peanut butter' and 'jelly' just pops into their mind. They're both smooth and you can mix them together and get this nice uniform texture. But peanut butter and apples taste so much better together, especially the slightly sour, really crunchy apples."

"Are you saying that I'm a slightly sour, really crunchy apple?"

"Those are my favorite kind."

Kurt smiled and kissed him. "You're the best, smoothest peanut butter around." Kurt surprised him by licking his neck. "Mmm. Tasty."

Sam started tickling him, just a little until he got him on his back. He licked him back and then started open mouth kissing him on his neck and down his shoulder.

"I thought I was too tired, but I'm pretty sure I'm not anymore," Kurt said.

"Mmm. Lucky me."

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The next morning, they packed up their belongings in the car and turned their key in before they took off hiking again since they knew they be out past check out time. They followed a different, shorter trail because they had to head back into the city by 5:00 if they didn't want to end up driving in the dark for very long.

They hiked through areas that had some clearings letting them see the mountain peaks more clearly than they had been able to the day before. Kurt took photos and set up his camera to take some more shots of the two of them together as well.

About halfway through the hike, they found a little area off the trail where they could straddle a fallen tree and enjoy the view. Sam was sitting behind Kurt and found himself enjoying his view of Kurt's neck a little more than the view of the area. He started kissing him and it wasn't long before he was adjusting himself.

Kurt leaned back into him and whispered in his ear, "Again?"

"No one can see us."

"This makes..." Kurt was counting. "...the tenth time since we got here?"

"It's not my fault you're so sexy."

Kurt turned around and unzipped Sam's pants and double-checked that no one could see them and relieved Sam. But in so doing, he ended up in the same predicament that Sam had been in and they switched positions.

"You're going to be the death of me, Kurt Hummel. But what a way to die." He zipped Kurt's pants up and wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him close. "I love you so much."

Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam, nuzzling his face into Sam's neck. "I love you too."

They sat there holding each other, relaxing and re-energizing themselves. "Let's eat something before we hike anymore." Sam pulled out the peanut butter sandwiches they had made and packed that morning and handed one to Kurt. He also handed him a beautiful, slightly sour, really crunchy apple.

Kurt laughed. "It's perfect."

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On their drive home they talked and talked and eventually the topic of telling their families came up again as they drove into Brooklyn.

"So, do we want to just call them and tell them or go ahead with the idea of sending them a collage of our photos and tell them that way?" Sam asked.

"Maybe a combination. Let's make the collage tonight. We'll hook the camera up as soon as we get home and burn all of the photos we took this weekend to a DVD. We'll look through the photos and make a collage, maybe 8x10 and then tomorrow at lunch, I'll go out and print 3 copies. I'll send one to your parents and one to my dad and Carole. On the envelope flap, I'll write 'Call before you open this.' And then we can talk to them while they're looking at the photos."

"That's a good idea. They will probably get them on Thursday or Friday, which gives us a little time to relax about telling them. I'm not really worried about telling my parents, but I'm think you're pretty nervous about telling Burt."

"I am. But the reality is that it doesn't change anything for me with regards to insurance or the FAFSA or our legal status in Ohio or most of the country. It's mostly just along the East Coast that it will even be recognized as legal. The fact that those other places don't accept it doesn't change that we're married though. This is absolutely real to me. I guess I'm afraid that Dad will act like it's not real."

"I get that. Whether he wants to accept it or not, it's real. I love you and you love me and we got married two days ago."

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Sam ran their clothes down to the laundry room and washed them while Kurt oversaw the uploading of all of his photos and while he cooked their dinner. When Sam came back upstairs, he uploaded his photos. They had just sat down to eat when someone knocked on their door. Kurt got up to see who it was. He looked through the peephole to see Rachel standing there.

He opened the door slightly. "Rachel?"

"Yes, Kurt it's me."

"We just sat down to eat. Would it be okay if I come up to the loft in about 15 minutes?"

"Sure, Kurt. I'll just go up and wait for you."

"Thanks." He shut the door. He went and sat back down at the table. " I wonder what she wants."

Sam shrugged. "I guess you'll find out when you go up there in a few minutes."

They finished eating and Kurt stood up and picked up his plate.

"No. You go on up. I'll wash the dishes. It was delicious, by the way." He kissed him and picked Kurt's plate up.

"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can."

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Kurt knocked on the loft door. Rachel opened it and nearly knocked him over with a hug. She let him go and let him step inside and closed the door behind him.

"What is the one thing I have always wanted?"

"To play Fanny in _Funny Girl_."

She started squealing.

"You got Fanny?" he asked excitedly.

"I did. I found out on Friday, but you weren't home."

"Congratulations, Rachel. Really. That's fantastic. When to do rehearsals start?"

"In May."

"Let us know when the show starts and we'll see if we can make it."

"You'll see?"

"Sam and I aren't staying here. We've both signed our acceptance letters to a school upstate."

"So, you're not coming to NYADA in the fall?"

"No. I've decided to study somewhere else."

"Oh. When are you leaving?"

"June 1st."

"I see. I thought we'd be together again this fall."

"We haven't been together for a long time Rachel. I gave it my best shot last fall, but you really wanted to break free and be the new you. It's fine. I've changed a lot and realized a lot about myself. I've grown a lot since I moved here. I really do wish you the best with Fanny. You're going to be great," Kurt said completely sincerely. He knew that she had the talent to portray Fanny and it was her dream role.

"Thank you for saying that."

"I've always known you had it in you to be great, Rachel. That's never been the issue. The question is can you be great without alienating everyone around you. Can you be great on stage and humble in real life? I guess that's yet to be seen. But I have no doubts that you will make a great Fanny. I'm really tired. We've been gone for 4 days and the last 2 we've hiked for a total of about 15 hours. It was gloriously beautiful and peaceful, but I am exhausted. Again, congratulations." He hugged her briefly.

"Thanks."

Kurt opened the door and left.

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Kurt let himself back into the apartment. Kurt locked the door behind him as he came in. Sam was sitting at the laptop looking through their photos.

"Did you find some you like?"

"I like all of them. They are a story of what we did. The trick is to get the cliff notes version. Picking just a few is hard. Come sit with me."

"I suggest we shower first. That way when we're done, we can just get in bed."

"Good idea."

Fifteen minutes later, they were back looking at the photos.

"I'd like to make our collage different. I want to include more photos in ours. I think maybe we can just make a smaller one for our parents - mostly just photos of us. Or we could make two collages for us. One that's like the one we send our parents and then one of the scenic shots we took. I like looking at them and remembering being there with you. Those shots are pretty, but they won't really mean anything to our parents."

"You're right. Let's just make like a 5x7 collage for our parents. They can put it in a stand up frame on a bookcase or something. Let's do that one tonight and work on another one just for us tomorrow night."

Their task was a lot easier with leaving out the scenic shots. For the center, they chose the photo of the two of them facing each other holding hands in front of the judge. They made that photo take up nearly half of the space, about 3.25x4.5 inches horizontally. The three photos below it were 1x1 inch squares spaced apart by blank 1x1 inch spaces. The second row was a photo of them from their first day hiking with the waterfall in the background. In the center they wrote "Kurt and Sam" with "April 5, 2013 underneath. The third space was a photo of them from their second day with the mountains in the background. They put their vows to each other on each side the photo of their hands with the certificate on the bottom. Kurt saved their creation to a flash drive to take with him the next day.

"I'm beat. Let's go to bed." Kurt powered the laptop down. He double-checked the front door and turned all of the lights off on the way to the bed. He stripped down and got under the covers with Sam. He turned some soft music on. "We'll start a new book soon. I'll just fall asleep if we listen to one tonight."

"Me too. I love you." Sam kissed him.

"I love you too." Kurt returned his affectionate kisses, full of love, but gentle and chaste.

They fell asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

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Kurt didn't share his news with Isabelle because he was waiting to tell anyone until after they had told their parents, but he had a hard time keeping it to himself. He ran out on his lunch and found a place to print the collages. He brought them back to his office and cut a piece of cardboard for 2 of the photos and slipped them inside like blank cardboard greeting cards. He had bought 2 padded envelopes while he waited for the photos to print and addressed them. He put the third photo in a book in his satchel to keep it extra safe from being bent. He left the office in time to drop by the post office and get the two envelopes mailed out.

He got home before Sam that evening. He started dinner and put away the clothes that Sam had washed and dried the night before. Dinner was nearly done when Sam came in. He shut and locked the door, put his bag down on the dining table and walked straight into Kurt's awaiting arms. "I'm glad to see you. I missed you."

"I missed you too." He slipped his phone out of his pocket and connected it to the bluetooth speaker and started some instrumental music. He started moving to the music and Kurt repositioned them slightly so he could move a bit easier and they slow danced around the room through a few songs.

Kurt didn't want to stop, but he needed to get the food off the stove. "Let me turn the burners off so nothing burns." He moved right back into Sam's arms. "We can eat whenever you're ready."

"Mmm. Thank you. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be great. Let's eat it while it's hot. You went to the trouble to make it for me, I want to enjoy it." He kissed Kurt and let him go.

Kurt plated the food and Sam put the pots and pans in the sink to soak while they ate. After they finished, Sam washed and Kurt dried.

"Do you have homework?"

"Yeah, a bunch of reading."

"I want to show you the collage, and then I'll read to you, okay?"

"Are you sure? You could do something else."

"I like art history. And I like sitting with you." Kurt got the photo out of his satchel and showed it to Sam.

"It looks good. We just need to get a frame for it. I'm going to put it on the shelf by the dining table in one of the books until we get one." Sam put it in a book.

"Do you want to shower first and read in bed or sit on the couch?"

"I think if we get in the bed, I won't think about what you're reading to me at all."

"Alright then, couch it is." Kurt took his shoes off and put them in the cubbie under their bed and waited for Sam to come back.

Sam sat on the end of the couch and Kurt sat right next to him and pulled his feet up to his side. Sam wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulders and they each held the book with one hand while Kurt read out loud to him. It took about an hour to get through the reading.

"Do you have anything else?"

"There are questions to answer, but they aren't due until Wednesday."

"Are you opposed to doing them now, while the text is fresh in your mind? That will leave tomorrow evening open. We need to go grocery shopping. We also have to file our taxes and fill out the FAFSAs this week. We need to remind our parents to fill out their part when we talk to them this week."

"Let's get the questions over with then."

Sam got the assignment out and Kurt typed up the questions and Sam's answers and emailed them to the teacher.

"Movie? Audiobook? Music? Definitely snuggles."

"Umm. Music and a massage? I'm sore and I'm sure you are too. We did a lot of hiking."

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Late Thursday afternoon, Kurt's cell phone rang. He answered it.

"Hi, Dad. I'm in the subway. I'll call you as soon as I get home, in about 30 minutes."

Twenty minutes later, Kurt unlocked the door to their apartment and went inside. He texted Sam to tell him that his dad had called. Sam got home about 15 minutes later, making Kurt's return call five minutes late already. He took a deep breath and dialed his dad's number.

"Hey, Dad. Is Carole home too?"

"Yeah."

"Can you get her and turn your speaker on so she can hear too?" Kurt turned the speaker on as well, so that Sam could hear and eventually talk to them too.

"Carole? Kurt wants to talk to both of us. She's coming."

"Thanks."

"No problem, kiddo. She's here now. Should I open this envelope now?"

"Sure, Dad. Go ahead. Open it carefully, though."

"Let me grab some scissors," Carole said. They could hear her snipping the end of the envelope open and sliding the photo out.

"Sam and I got married last Friday," Kurt said before they could ask or say anything.

"You what?" Burt asked.

"Honey, look. He said that he and Sam got married last Friday."

"I heard perfectly clearly what he said. I just can't believe my ears. You and Sam eloped?"

"I suppose that's an accurate term. We got married in upstate New York last Friday. The other pictures are from the Catskills. We went to the mountains. It was really beautiful there."

"I bet it was," Carole said.

"Is this still a secret? At Christmas, Sam wasn't even out to anyone except a few people."

"No. It's not a secret. He's out. Rachel knows, Santana knows. I don't know if either of them told anyone, but we didn't tell them that they had to keep it secret."

Sam spoke, "Burt, I'm not ashamed. I never was. I just didn't want to cause a big deal about it and I know that some of the people will make it a big deal. I'm me. I'm in love with Kurt and we got married. I'm not going to send out emails or texts or whatever to everyone I've ever met. I don't even talk to anyone from Lima anymore. I only see Rachel and Santana because they live in the same building we do. But no, it's not a secret."

"Do your parents know?" Carole asked.

"Know that I'm in love with Kurt or that we're married?"

"Both."

"We sent them the same photo with the same message. They haven't called yet. I will tell them we've gotten married as soon as they call. They've known about how I feel about Kurt since I told them I was leaving Lima and going to New York."

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Kurt. I'm here. I just can't figure out what I want to say."

"You two look really happy," Carole said.

"We are," Sam said at the same time Kurt did.

"Our other news is that we signed our acceptance letters to the university we applied to in upstate New York. The tuition is affordable, unlike NYADA. Sam will get enough in grants, plus he got an art scholarship. I know you can afford the tuition at this school, so I won't end up taking out over a hundred thousand dollars in school loans. I just couldn't justify the cost of NYADA. It might be a good school, but it's just too much."

"So, you're moving out of the city?" Burt asked.

"Yep. June 1st, right after Sam's graduation ceremony. We signed a lease on an apartment when we were there last week. It's slightly larger than this place, with a real kitchen and a big closet. It's less expensive because all of the utilities are included in the rent, even the internet. It's less than a half mile from campus."

"Sounds like you've got everything planned out," Carole said cheerfully. Kurt could tell that she was trying to get Burt to see that Kurt was actually planning things, not just winging it.

"I'm going to apply for positions in garages, starting really soon. So, Cassius might end up getting calls checking my references."

"I'll let him know. You're sure about all of this?" Burt asked.

"Yes, Dad. I'm sure. Sam and I are really happy together. And I really like this school."

"Okay. Carole and I are going to come visit you in June then. Maybe we can go to the place in the photos. It looks really nice. I've never been to the mountains."

"Me either," Carole added.

"It's really beautiful. We went hiking and hiking and hiking, but there are roads with pull-offs where you can get out and walk around and enjoy the view. The lodge wasn't fancy, but the price was really reasonable. There are restaurants and stores not too far away, but the lodge itself is really nice and quiet. It's about an hour from where we're moving."

"Look, you took me by surprise. But Sam's a good guy. Smart with common sense and a good head on his shoulders. He's always treated you with respect. If you're happy, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, Burt. I appreciate you saying that."

"It's true, Sam," Carole said. "You've always been a good friend to Kurt. We grew to love you like a son while you lived with us. Now, you're our son-in-law."

"I am happy." Kurt said. "I never really thought I'd find someone who could accept all of me. I had always kept part of myself back. I was always too much. But Sam's not like that. You both just said that you know that."

"We do, honey."

"Yeah."

"Look, we know it's not recognized in Ohio. But this is absolutely real to us. It is legal here. It will be legal everywhere, someday."

"I keep working toward that," Burt said.

"I know, Dad. Until then, we take the acceptance we have and keep moving forward."

"Is there anything the two of you would like?" Carole asked. "I know you didn't have a shower or anything."

"Not that I can think of right now. Maybe after we move and start classes we'll come up with something."

"Alright," Carole said. "When you think of something, you can let us know."

"I do have one question. Did one of you get my FAFSA form filled out? Well, the parents portion?"

"Yes, honey. I did yours and Finn's both last week. He hasn't decided for sure what he wants to do, but better to fill it out and be prepared."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I'm going to ask one last time just to be certain," Burt said. "This marriage isn't a secret and I can talk about it to anyone I want to?"

"Sure, Dad. I'm not sure who you'd tell, but it's not a secret."

"Alright then. I'm glad you're both happy."

"Me too," Carole said.

"We'll let you go now, then. We need to make dinner. I called as soon as Sam walked in the door from work."

"Bye, honey."

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Kurt and Sam had eaten dinner, put away the leftovers, and cleaned the kitchen. They decided to take an early shower and get started listening to the new audiobook that Sam had picked up at the library when he had taken Blaze there after school.

They had been listening for about 15 minutes when Sam's phone rang. Kurt pressed pause on the CD and Sam answered. Kurt didn't slide right back up against Sam, but stayed close.

"Hi, Dad."

"Hey, Son. Your mom's here too. We got the envelope. We waited to call until we got Stevie and Stacey in bed in case there was some reason they didn't need to hear."

"That's okay. We weren't asleep. Kurt's here too."

"So, why did you want us to call?" Mary asked.

"Go ahead and open the envelope carefully."

They could hear paper being sliced, probably by Dwight's pocket knife.

"Oh, honey. You and Kurt got married. Congratulations!" Mary exclaimed. "Those are really nice rings. I like that textured look."

"Is that a judge?" Dwight asked.

"Yeah. We got married at the courthouse by a judge."

"Kurt's parents weren't there?" Mary asked.

"Nope. We eloped. It was just the two of us."

"But it was in New York?"

"Upstate New York, in the town we're moving to for college."

"So, you picked a school?" Dwight asked.

"I did. It has a really good program and it's inexpensive. Since I'm graduating in New York, I get in-state tuition and I got that scholarship I told you about that I can use because it's a state school. So, I shouldn't end up having to pay any tuition. Kurt and I leased an apartment that's really close to campus. It's a lot like the place we live now, but upgraded with a real kitchen."

"That's great. When you get moved in, send us some pictures like you did before," Mary said.

"I will."

"Is it okay if we tell Stevie and Stacey?"

"Sure, Mom. You can tell anyone. I mean I don't want people to hassle you and I know that Grandma and Grandpa will not approve, so there's little point in telling them, unless you just want to. I don't mind. I'm not ashamed. I love Kurt."

"I know, honey. You know your dad and I are fine with everything. Stevie and Stacey will be excited for you. You know how much they both like Kurt."

"What about Kurt?" They heard a small voice in the background ask.

"Stacey, I thought you were asleep," Mary said.

"I was, but I needed a drink and I heard you talking about Kurt."

"Hi Stacey," Kurt said.

"Hi, Kurt."

"Sammy's with you, right? Mommy said he moved to New York to live with you because that's where you moved. He was lonely when you left Ohio."

"Yes, Stacey. Sam is here with me."

"Hi Stacey."

"SAMMY!" she screamed.

"Hi, sweetheart."

"Do you still like New York?"

"I do, but Kurt and I are moving to a different part of New York in a couple of months when I finish high school. We're moving to the town where we are going to go to college."

"Maybe I can come see you there."

"Maybe. Ask Mommy to show you the picture we sent."

"Aww. You and Kurt got married."

"We did," Sam said. "Last week."

"Congratulations!"

"Thanks, sweetheart. You need to go back to sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

"Well, Son, are you happy?"

"Yeah, Dad. I really am."

"Well, you know that being married is a commitment and I know you're a man of your word. Treat each other right."

"We will."

"Congratulations, honey. Don't let anything or anyone come between you. You know life can be hard, but stay close."

"We will, Mom. I do need to ask if one of you filled out the parent FAFSA. I have to have that filled out or I won't get any grants."

"Yes, Son. I filled it out over the weekend. My boss let me use the computer in his office so I wouldn't have to fill it out on a public computer at the library."

"Thank you and thank him for me, if you can. I'm really looking forward to school. The program is really good."

"I'm glad you went to live with Kurt. If you had come back here, you wouldn't have the chance to go to a good art school like that. Plus, you wouldn't be happy here without him. Take care of each other," Mary said.

"We will," Kurt said.

"We'll call again soon. You can tell Stevie when he wakes up. 'Night." Sam said.

"Goodnight, Son."

"Goodnight, honey."

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Kurt scooted closer to Sam, who turned on his side meeting Kurt with a kiss.

"That went better than I had anticipated," Kurt said. "My dad didn't seem angry or incredibly disappointed. I'll get more info out of Carole the next time I call her."

"My parents responded the way I thought they would. They'd like to do a lot of things they can't and they've just come to accept that as a fact. If they had the money to come here and we didn't invite them, they would have been more upset, I'm sure. I was actually surprised by your dad's response as well. But I think he did see how the two of us behaved together when I lived with you. It may very well be that he suspected I felt more for you than even I realized at the time. You said he knew that you thought I might be gay."

"Yeah. I told him about you when you first joined Glee."

"He was quick to accept what I said when he was here at Christmas, so maybe he suspected."

"He may not have actually suspected anything, but he came to trust you as a person because you were respectful to me and to him and Carole. And he knows you to be a truthful person. So, he may have just taken you at your word because he's not known you to be a liar or to do anything to hurt me. I mean, he just said he came to see you as a son when you lived with us. He trusts you."

"I'm glad. He's a formidable man to cross."

"That's true," Kurt laughed. "But he loves you, so don't worry."

"Okay. And you know my parents love you. They always have. 'Kurt's so sweet and so polite and he's smart and helpful...'"

Kurt laughed. "Sounds like your mom was trying to set you up with the neighbor's ugly daughter so your dad could get more cows."

Sam snorted. "Only you would come up with something like that. My mom actually likes you."

"I know. I was just being funny. Whenever she was saying those things, she had no idea that you'd end up liking me or loving me."

"Who knows, maybe she had an idea too. Neither one of them flipped out when I told them."

"So, our parents know. Stacey knows. I'm telling Isabelle tomorrow. I've had the hardest time keeping my mouth shut all week."

"Really? You're going to tell the people you work with?"

"Of course. I love you. Why would I keep us getting married a secret?"

"I don't know. They're all rich and posh and I'm a high school student."

"You are my awesome wonderful husband. High school student or not." Kurt started kissing him all over.

"Oh, God. Don't stop." Sam ran his hands down Kurt's back.

"You want to?"

"Definitely."

"Alright." Kurt crawled over to his dresser and pulled out what they needed from the drawer and went right back to kissing Sam.

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"That was as amazing as it was last weekend." Sam said as he worked to slow his breathing down. He was kissing Kurt after he had come back with a washcloth.

"I agree." Kurt put the washcloth back and got back in bed with Sam.

"Everything with you is amazing. Kissing, snuggling, making out, making love. Getting to live with you and be with you. Everything." He cuddled up as close as he could, half lying on Sam with his head on his shoulder. Sam wrapped his arm around Kurt. "Do you want to listen to the book again or some music or just go to sleep?"

"Sleep." He ran his hand up and down Kurt's arm gently and kissed the top of his head. "I'm the little spoon." He turned on his side and Kurt snuggled up behind him and held him close and they fell asleep.

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Kurt knocked on Isabelle's door and waited.

"Come in."

Kurt stepped inside her office.

"Good morning, Kurt."

"Good morning."

"Spill. You've been keeping something from me all week."

"Sam and I got married last Friday."

"You eloped? You took two days off from work to go visit a college and you eloped?" she said with a huge smile on her face. "Details. Spill."

"Well, we got married at the courthouse and we spent that evening and the rest of the weekend in the Catskills in a lodge."

"Ooh. A trip to the mountains for your honeymoon. So, how was it?"

"It was beautiful and fantastic."

"Well, congratulations. He is gorgeous and if he's fantastic well, that's just a bonus," she winked.

"Isabelle," Kurt said as if he'd been completely scandalized by what she had said, knowing full well that she would tease him like that.

She laughed. "So, what did you think of the school?"

"I signed the acceptance forms. That was the other thing I came to tell you. My last day will be May 30th. I know that this internship ends in May anyway, but I just wanted to be certain you knew. We're moving upstate June 1st, so I really need the 31st off to get everything packed. Santana is taking over our apartment. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Rachel got Fanny."

"Well, good for her."

"If she can keep her head from swelling three times its already overinflated size."

"Ooh burn. I know you two had a falling out, but wow."

"Well, she's Rachel. Always looking out for herself and no one else. I thought she'd grow up once we moved away. She was always a big fish in a little pond and now she's a big fish in a big pond. Her long-held belief that she is the best has just been proven true. She is extremely talented, but I don't foresee this going well. But I guess we'll see. I could be wrong and I honestly hope that I am."

"So, you and Mr. Gorgeous are headed off upstate. I had hoped I could wrangle someone in HR into giving you another position here somehow. You're the best intern I've ever had. I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too. I've enjoyed working here. Even if I were staying in the city, I'd have to get another job though. This one doesn't pay enough for me to pay my bills working part time. I was going to have to go back to working as a mechanic anyway. I make so much more doing that."

"Well, we'll miss you around here. Let me know what's on your gift registry. Send me an email with a link so I can get you two a wedding gift."

"Oh, we didn't register anywhere. We're not having a party or anything. Other than you, there's not really anyone else we know that would be the least bit supportive. According to 95% of the people I know, Sam is straight and if he married me, I did something to forcibly convert him."

"Oh, my God. I mean, I know things were like that when I grew up in Ohio, but that was AGES ago. But I know those people. I grew up around those people."

"Well, THOSE people are alive and well in Ohio still treating all gay boys like predators out to convert the other boys to their wicked and evil agenda."

"That sucks."

"It does. But I don't live there anymore and I have no intention of ever living there again. And the other 5% of the people I know agreed to help my ex with an over-the-top public proposal not even a month ago."

"Now, how did I miss out on that?"

"I didn't tell anyone. I was too upset about it at the time. He did it the week I was home to go with my dad to his oncology appointment." Kurt took a deep breath. "I was invited to the all-boys school I went to half my junior year to visit with some of the guys. I accepted and two of them picked me up in Lima. We got to the school and I walked in and there was my ex singing 'Love, Love, Love' with the a cappella group we were members of singing back up for him. He got three other choirs to help him. That part I only heard about because I turned around and walked out before he made it to the second verse."

"I see."

"Then he came here the following week, still trying to get me back."

"I see."

"And he applied to and got into NYADA."

"I see."

"And he's moving in with Rachel."

"I see. I'm assuming you told your parents."

"Yes, we did. They were surprisingly okay with it. I figured my dad would be upset that we eloped. I'm going to talk to my stepmother and get her take on how he really feels about it. Sam's parents were happy for us. Anyway, that was a long convoluted way of saying that Sam and I did this for ourselves. None of the people we know will be supportive as far as we can tell. They all seemed to buy into my ex's Disney prince persona. He lied to all of them about why we were broken up. It really doesn't matter. I'm really actually over it. Sam and I are married and we're happy."

"Well, that's what counts. I'm glad for you. I'd still like to do something for you."

"Well, I'll need a good recommendation from this job. I know it's not working as a mechanic, but you could at least tell them I do my job?"

"Of course. You can put my name down as a reference. I'm sure your sense of fashion will be completely wasted in a garage, but I know all about needing to pay bills."

"I can make two and a half times what I make here as a mechanic, which means I can work less than half as many hours and get paid the same. And I'll need those hours for school."

"And to spend with your gorgeous new husband." She winked.

"That too," he said and smiled.

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Kurt opened the door and was pulled in and the door was pushed shut quickly. Sam pressed him to the door, put his hands on the sides of Kurt's faced and kissed him gently. "I missed you."

"You are the most wonderful person to come home to. I missed you too. I'm looking forward to 10-minute walks to get home to you. I'm pretty tired of the hour-long subway commute."

"I bet."

"I enjoy reading or listening to music, but I could do that here next to you." Kurt ran his hands through Sam's hair and drew him back down for more kisses.

"I started dinner already. It should be done in about a half an hour."

"Mmm. Thank you." Sam was kissing his neck, causing momentary loss of brain power.

"Let me take your jacket." Sam stepped back so that Kurt could get it off. He turned around to go hang it up in on the rack in their room.

Kurt walked behind him very quietly and stayed two steps back so when Sam turned back around they were facing each other.

Sam startled a bit and laughed.

"It was lonely by the door."

"Oh, really?"

Kurt started unbuttoning Sam's shirt and untucked it. He ran his hands along Sam's chest.

"Dinner might burn."

"You could turn the heat down."

"Let's just shower now. Then we can stay in bed the rest of the evening after we eat." Sam took Kurt's shirt off and grabbed some pajama pants and headed to the bathroom with Kurt on his heels.

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"God, every time it gets better. I keep thinking there's no way it could be better, but I'm proven wrong."

"You're very responsive and vocal and it's a huge turn on and it tells me what you like."

"Obviously, you, a lot," Sam laughed. He reached out to Kurt as he climbed back into bed. Kurt crawled over to him and Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him close. He kissed him gently. "I love you."

"I love you too. So, more making out, snuggling, music, a book, a combination of those things?"

"Music, snuggling, kissing, maybe more making out, we'll see."

Kurt rolled over and turned his iPod on to some strings music that they both liked and rolled back over into Sam's open arms. "Mmm." He nuzzled in close.

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The next two weeks went by smoothly. Sam and Kurt got back to their routines and Sam worked on his art projects for school. Kurt read his art history book to him every night. They listened to more audio books. They cooked together, took walks together, and still went to free art shows and events on the weekends with the friends they had made. Kurt actually kept in contact with Sebastian through texts. He found they actually got along quite well with Blaine out of the picture.

Friday evening started out much the way Friday nights tended to. Kurt came home to a nearly complete dinner and was greeted by Sam who was quite interested in keeping him in the bed all evening exploring each other.

Unfortunately, right after they had finished their early evening shower, which had become their typical way to start their Friday evenings, there was a knock on the door. They both slipped some pajama pants on, annoyed at the interruption to their plans. Kurt made it to the door before Sam and looked through the peephole.

"What on earth is he doing here?" Kurt whispered. He moved to the side to let Sam see.

"I thought he got the 'leave us alone memo' the last time he was here," Sam whispered.

Blaine knocked again. This time Kurt answered.

"What do you want, Blaine?" Kurt said through the tiniest crack in the open door.

"I want to talk to you. Can I come in?"

Kurt turned back to look at Sam. "Let him in, but I'm not getting dressed, but I'll grab us some t-shirts." Sam tossed Kurt a shirt and slipped his on.

Kurt put the shirt on, and then reopened the door to see Blaine holding his guitar. He opened it far enough for Blaine to walk in.

Blaine looked around. "This is nice. The pictures you sent me were from before you moved in."

"Yeah. Have a seat," Kurt said as he gestured toward the leather chair near the window.

Kurt sat down on the couch, but Sam remained standing.

"So, I've, um, come to talk to you. Sam, can you sit down or something? I mean, I had hoped to talk to Kurt alone, but I know you live here too."

Sam sat on the opposite end of the couch.

"So, I went and talked to the Warblers and the New Directions and this time I told them the truth. I apologized for involving them when they didn't have the right information to make an informed decision. Nick and Jeff said that they had tried to contact you the next day to apologize, but they couldn't get in touch with you. I'm assuming that you didn't just block me, and that you actually went and got a new number. The two of them, and surprisingly Sebastian, laid into me. Trent cried."

Kurt didn't answer him.

Blaine continued. "Kitty bitched me out. She asked me what kind of fool would cheat on a guy like you. She called me out in front of everyone. She said I pushed you away and then punished you for leaving. Unique's reaction was similar to Trent's. Anyway, since then, I did a lot of thinking. I thought about the things that were said to me. Things you said to me that day at Starbuck's. I was most struck by the realization that I had never actually apologized." He started strumming his guitar and began to sing.

 _Spending all my nights, all my money going out on the town_

 _Doing anything just to get you off my mind._

 _But when the morning comes, I'm right back where I started again._

 _Trying to forget you is just a waste of time._

 _Baby, come back, any kind of fool could see._

 _There was something in everything about you._

 _Baby come back, you can blame it all on me._

 _I was wrong, and I just can't live without you._

 _All day long, wearing a mask of false bravado._

 _Trying to keep up the smile that hides a tear._

 _But as the sun goes down, I get that empty feeling again._

 _How I wish to God you were here._

 _Baby, come back, any kind of fool could see._

 _There was something in everything about you._

 _Baby come back, you can blame it all on me._

 _I was wrong, and I just can't live without you._

 _Now that I put it all together_

 _Give me the chance to make you see_

 _Have you used up all the love in your heart?_

 _Nothing left for me, ain't there nothing left for me?_

 _Baby, come back, any kind of fool could see._

 _There was something in everything about you._

 _Baby come back, you can blame it all on me._

 _I was wrong, and I just can't live without you._

 _I was wrong, and I just can't live without you._

"Kurt, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you to come. I needed you in Lima. I should have found a way for us to be happy in Lima. But I'm coming to New York in a few weeks. I know you said you were going to go to school somewhere else, but you could still stay. I know it will take time to rebuild our relationship. You and Sam could still be roommates and I could live with Rachel until we are in a position to move in together."

"Blaine, I told you as clearly as I could the last time you were here over a month ago. We are not getting back together."

"You're wearing a ring?"

"I am. I was wearing a ring when you were here the last time."

"You're engaged?"

"I was."

"Was?"

"I'm married."

"Is this some cruel joke? Did Santana tell you that I was here?"

"It's not a joke and I didn't know you were here until I looked through the peephole and saw you outside the door."

"Why is Sam still living with you if you got married? Is this some kind of long-distance internet thing?"

"No. Sam still lives with me because we're married. Sam and I are married."

"This is insane. You really think I'm going to fall for that? Nice try. Sam's straight."

"Not straight," Sam said. "Figured myself out last fall. Never could make it work with girls because I don't like girls that way. It was more of a 'I dated girls because people expected me to, society expected me to. I expected me to.'"

"Look, Blaine, you can believe whatever you want. It really makes no difference. You can ask my dad when you get back to Lima. He knows. Sam's parents know. Rachel and Santana know we were dating."

"Why didn't they say anything?"

"My guess is that they either don't care or they're trying to be more adult and less gossipy high schoolers," Kurt said.

"Either way, it isn't a secret. The fact that you didn't know doesn't change that," Sam added.

"I'm not going to NYADA. In five weeks, we are moving. Santana has already signed the lease for this apartment. I told you not to count on Santana or Brody staying. I don't know what Brody is doing. But I did tell you to be prepared to pay half of the rent. I was very clear that I was leaving and going to school somewhere else. And I was exceedingly clear that you and I were never getting back together. Will it take singing to you to get you to understand? I can sing the Taylor Swift song, if necessary."

"I just don't get it. Why Sam?"

"This is not a competition. I am not a trophy to be won by the most qualified competitor. This is my life and I've chosen to share it with Sam. I love him. He loves me. There is nothing more that concerns you about our relationship."

Sam said, "There is nothing left for us to talk about. You gave up the most amazing person in the world. I am thankful for every minute that he and I get to spend together. I will never willingly give him up. You were a fool. But I will not be so foolish. I think it's time for you to go back up to the loft. I sat here and allowed you to say your peace. You sang a song that's way past being relevant."

Sam stood up, and Kurt followed suit, indicating that Blaine's visit had come to an end. He took the hint and got up.

"I still don't believe you."

"Stay right there." Kurt walked into their bedroom, pulled out their marriage certificate from their mini safe and walked back into the living room. He took the frame with their collage off the shelf and showed both of them to Blaine. "You can clearly see the date and our signatures. You can see us signing it in the photo. You can see our hands and the rings we are wearing. This is not an elaborate hoax to get back at you. Honestly, I don't think about you anymore. We were over 7 months ago when you let someone else fuck you. We've been over this. You cheated. You chose someone else over me. Your choice ended our relationship. I've made my choice. I chose Sam. I choose Sam." Kurt put the photo back on the shelf and walked back out of the room and put the certificate in the safe.

Blaine took a few steps toward the door and looked like he was going to say something.

"Do you want more proof?" Sam asked and extended his arms toward Kurt.

Kurt stepped closer and allowed himself to be wrapped up in Sam's arms. Kurt looked into Sam's eyes and Sam barely nodded. Kurt kissed Sam.

"Some things cannot be undone," Kurt said. "We aren't getting back together."

Sam stepped out of the hug and moved to open the door. Blaine walked out.


	8. Chapter 8

Sam shut the door and locked it. He turned around and was met with Kurt wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing him. "Don't let anything that happened make you think I don't have a long list of reasons why choosing you was a good idea."

He kissed Sam and Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and kissed him back.

"Is that so?" Sam asked smugly, smiling mischievously.

"It is. I just refuse to engage with him when he is argumentative because he was just going to try to rip our relationship apart. He just wanted an opportunity to try to prove that he is the better choice, when there is absolutely no contest. Let's go back to bed. He's not going to take up even one more minute of my evening. I look forward to Friday night early snuggles." Kurt started undressing and walking toward the bedroom. He dropped his shirt, and then he wiggled out of his pajama pants. He was back in the bed for mere seconds before Sam was right next to him.

"I agree, Friday evening early snuggling is one of my favorite weekly activities," Sam said as he scooted closer to Kurt.

Kurt rolled over to turn on the book they had chosen, and then scooted back toward Sam. He moved his arm up and allowed Sam to scoot closer and lay his head on his chest. Kurt wrapped his arm around Sam, who scooted even closer and intertwined their legs. He started tracing patterns on Kurt's chest.

"I can't focus on the book while you're doing that," Kurt said.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Definitely not."

Sam laughed. "So we'll restart the book later or we can switch to music."

"Just keep touching me. I don't care about what we're listening to right now."

"I can do that." Sam ran his fingers and hand all over Kurt, caressing him gently. It didn't take long before Sam wanted to use both of his hands and moved so that he was straddling Kurt and massaging him. He reached for the lotion he had already put out before they were interrupted and he had Kurt turn over.

"Oh, ow. Right there," Kurt said as Sam massaged his shoulders.

Sam carefully massaged the knot out, intermixing the massaging with gentle kisses to the back of Kurt's neck.

Kurt turned back over and claimed the kisses with his lips and gently pulled Sam down on top of him.

Between the kisses, Sam asked, "No more massage?"

"You can do whatever you want. I just wanted to kiss you too."

"Whatever I want, hmm?" He started kissing down Kurt's chest and paused briefly to make sure it was okay with Kurt, who nodded.

"Oh, God. That's amazing."

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Before Sam could get much further, Kurt's phone starting to ring and someone started pounding on the door.

"What now?" Kurt grumbled, then changed his tone quickly and caressed Sam's cheek. "This isn't over. We'll get back to this. You go see who's at the door and I'll see who's calling."

Sam got up and put his pajama pants back on and went to the door.

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Kurt saw that it was his dad and answered before he missed the call.  
"Hello, Dad."

"Hey, Kurt. I just wanted to tell you that Blaine seems to have lost it. He called the house a little bit ago claiming that you had lost your mind and had convinced Sam to join you in some great scheme to get back at him for what he did. He said you had fake photos and a fake marriage certificate and that you need some type of intervention, I think he called it. Just what the hell is going on in New York?"

"Well, he showed up tonight and sang me an 'I'm sorry' song, expecting me to take him back now that he's realized that he is the one who screwed it all up. The main line in the song is 'I was wrong and I just can't live without you.' He's obviously still convinced that there is something he can do that will make me want to take him back. Can you hold on just a second? I'll be right back."

"Sure."

Kurt muted the call. "Who's at the door?"

"It's Santana. Do you want me to let her in?"

"Sure. She quit bothering us ages ago. She must have a real reason to come down here."

Kurt unmuted the phone. "Let me call you back in 5 minutes, Dad. Don't panic if it's a little longer. I have to deal with something here and then I'll call you back."

"Alright."

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Kurt got up and found his pajama pants and put them back on. "Let her in."

She came in, put her phone on the table and took a seat in the leather chair by the window.

"So, Santana. What can we do for you this evening?" Kurt asked putting his shirt back on after picking it up off the floor.

"Sorry for interrupting whatever was going on," she said smirking.

"You're here already, so please tell me what's going on."

"It's Frodo. He flipped out when he came up to the loft a half hour ago or whenever it was. He's pacing and mumbling about how you need help. How you've convinced Sam to lie for you. I'm pretty sure he called your dad."

"He did. My phone started ringing right as you started pounding on the door."

"Great," she said sarcastically.

"My dad already knows that we're married. He's known we were together since about a week after Sam got here."

"Well, that's good because if he didn't, he would after tonight. He just posted all of it to Facebook too," she said. "I saw the notification when I was waiting for someone to answer the door."

"Lovely," Kurt said. "It doesn't matter. He's the one that's delusional. He doesn't know what 'no' means. It doesn't mean try harder. It doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm saying. It certainly doesn't mean that I'm in need of an intervention."

Sam got up and walked over to the bookcase. "This is what we showed him when he was down here earlier after he finished singing a song to Kurt asking Kurt to take him back."

"So, you two got hitched."

"Three weeks ago," Sam said.

"So, you showed him this and a marriage certificate and he thinks you faked it to get back at him?"

"That's what he told my dad."

"Well, I'm happy for the two of you. You've been happier than I've ever seen you since Sam's been here."

"Thanks," Kurt said. "I am happy with him. We're happy together. Not to run you off, but I need to call my dad back and put out whatever fire Blaine started there. The rest of whatever he causes to blow up really doesn't matter to me. We told you we weren't hiding, we aren't. We just didn't see the need to broadcast our personal lives to the world. But Blaine obviously wants to continue to drag other people into my business. I won't respond. I don't have to defend myself. Sam and I are both over 18. We got married legally. There is nothing anyone can do about it except try to make me feel bad and to feel bad for Sam, who has obviously been tricked by me to either help me fake this to get even with Blaine or he's been tricked into becoming gay and marrying me. Either way, I'm the trickster and he's the beguiled. Whatever. It's all a bunch of nonsense. I'm not going to worry about it. Once I straighten it out with my dad, what everyone else thinks doesn't matter. When we leave in five weeks, none of them will even know where I am."

"Thanks for trying to warn us," Sam said.

Santana got up and picked up her phone. "Good luck with Papa Hummel."

"Oh, I'll be fine. It's Blaine that needs to worry. My dad told him to stay away from me. This is the third time he's gone against my dad's wishes."

Santana nodded and raised an eyebrow. "Not a good choice on his part."

"No, it wasn't."

She walked out the door and Sam closed it behind her and locked it again.

"I'm calling my dad back."

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"Hey, Dad. Sorry about making you wait. Santana was at the door trying to warn me that Blaine had called you and that he posted something to Facebook. I'm not sure what because I deactivated my Facebook account ages ago."

"Well, he called apologizing for going against my wishes and contacting me, but he assured me that it was in your interest that I listen to what he had to say. I listened for a few minutes and set him straight and hung up. When Sam told me that Blaine wouldn't give up easily, I didn't think he'd still be at this 4 months later."

"He's not accustomed to being told 'no'. He's a lot like Rachel. He tends to manipulate people until he gets the answer he wants. He listened to what I said the last time he came, but"

"Wait. Stop. The last time he came. Meaning since Christmas?"

"Well, yeah. I guess I never talked about the other times because they don't mean anything to me. I'm not taking him back."

"Other times, as is more than one?"

"Yes. He tried to propose to me at Dalton when I was in town for your oncology appointment."

"What?"

"And then he came here a few days later, still trying to get me to take him back. I was very, very clear when he was here the last time. Today, he serenaded me with an apology song, as if singing me a song 7 months later is going to somehow change things."

"I told him to stay away from you."

"You did. But you can't actually do anything to him, like threaten him."

"No, but I could find a way to call his parents. He felt the need to contact me about you. Perhaps someone needs to contact his parents about him."

"Well, what you do is up to you, but I'm not going to be a part of it. I don't consider him part of my life and I'm not going to involve myself in anything that could cause me to have to interact with him."

"I get that, but this is ridiculous."

"It is. But just don't give anyone my number and no one else will be able to bother me unless they spend the money and take the time to come to New York to stage an actual intervention for me. I'm moving in 5 weeks. I won't give anyone my new address and everything should be fine. No one can intervene if they can't find me. If anyone shows up here, I just won't open the door. End of problem."

"Alright, if you say so, kiddo. I'm going to go to bed."

"Night, Dad."

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"So, let's go back to bed. None of this changes anything. He can keep up the nonsense if he wants to, but it won't change anything. Actually, I'm going to do one thing first. I'm going to text Sebastian. Maybe he can put a stop to any Warbler nonsense." Kurt texted him and then set his phone to silent and put it on his dresser.

Sam was lying there waiting for him to finished. This time he held Kurt. "This is why you just went along and didn't rock the boat. When I would want to ring his neck and you did nothing. You knew."

"I did. I gave him power over my life that I shouldn't have. It wasn't a partnership. It never was. This, with us, is different. We are partners. We do things for each other and with each other. We don't keep track or score. There's no 'I've made dinner 5 more times than you have in the last month.' Or 'I've done more loads of laundry than you.' There's not competition for who's the best or right or anything. I really don't want to talk about him anymore at all. If he knocks again, don't answer. Seriously. If the people he told believe him, then I'm done with them too. Anyone who has anything to say to me besides the equivalent of 'I'm glad you're happy.' isn't going to be part of our lives anyway."

Sam gently repositioned Kurt so that Kurt was lying on him even more. He wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him close.

Kurt moved even more and placed his hands on each side of Sam's face and kissed him. Kisses full of love and contentment. Reassuring kisses that nothing had changed. Sam responded, kissing him back with just as much love. They fell asleep tangled up together.

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The next morning, Kurt and Sam did their main grocery shopping trip, brought the food home, put it away, packed a picnic lunch, and headed out to an art show. They met up with Adam and some of the other Apples and ate in Central Park before heading to the show.

Everyone enjoyed the watercolor exhibit. Afterwards, they headed to a matinee of a student play. It was more like a second dress rehearsal to be sure that they were ready for their 8:00 show. Several of the people in the play were Apples and had invited the group to watch them perform. Adam had included Kurt and Sam in the invitation.

When they went in to sit down, Kurt realized that his phone had been on silent all night. Everyone enjoyed the play and spent a lot of their time laughing. After it was over, they all said their goodbyes and headed off separately.

"We've been to most of the places on our list, but let's go through it again and make sure we haven't missed anything after dinner tonight," Sam suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea. Let's sit on that bench for a minute. I've had my phone on silent since last night. I want to make sure I didn't miss anything important from my dad or Carole."

They sat down and Kurt checked his phone. "Oh, Sebastian's actually here in New York. He invited us out to dinner. His treat, he says."

"Well, who would turn down a free dinner? Not me," Sam teased.

"I'll text him back and apologize for answering so late and see if he's still free."

A couple of minutes later, Kurt's phone pinged. "He says sure and he gave me the name of a place. He says be there at 6:00."

"Alright, then. Let's head toward wherever we're eating." Sam stood up and offered his hand to Kurt, who gladly took it and they made their way to the subway and got off at the closet stop. They walked the rest of the way and got there about 15 minutes ahead of time.

"Hey," Sebastian said as he walked up behind them. "We're early, but let's see if they have a table ready."

They went inside and there was a table available. They followed the hostess and sat down. She handed them menus and took their drink orders. After they had looked through their menus and made their choices, they started talking.

"So, what's been going on?" Kurt asked him.

"Well, I didn't tell you, but I got up the nerve to confront my dad about the requirement to be a lawyer. He and I had a long talk and we both managed to stay calm. He listened to my side of things. He told me he'd consider what I said and we'd talk a second time."

"Well, that's a surprise. Did you have the second talk already?"

"We did. He's actually here with me this weekend. He's just meeting up with some old friends of his for dinner and I told him I have some friends here too that I wanted to eat with and here I am."

"So, how did the second talk go?"

"He said that he was proud of me for getting into Juilliard because it's such a prestigious school and that I must be very good. He came with me to visit Columbia and Juilliard. He found out that the acceptance rate at Juilliard is actually lower than Columbia, meaning that they are even more selective, which was a positive thing from his perspective. He had never really heard me play. I played for him and one of the violin professors that he had made an appointment with. The professor spoke with him and convinced him of my skill and basically made it out to sound like it would be criminal to make me become a lawyer when I was obviously born to be a musician."

"Wow, that's high praise," Sam said.

"So, in a shocking 180, my father has determined that I can study at Juilliard."

"Congratulations, Sebastian! That's amazing. And he's not going to withdraw your financial support?"

"He's going to pay for me to go. I have to live on campus. No partying lifestyle. If I want to do this, I have to be serious about it."

"So, are you going to accept?"

"Of course. I want to be a lawyer about as much as I want to date girls."

Kurt and Sam both laughed.

"Well, I'm glad things have turned around for you and you're going to get to do what you want," Kurt said.

The waitress delivered their food and they started eating, while continuing to talk.

"I got up the nerve because of your 'outside-the-stepford-sons-box' ideas. You kept talking about how freeing it was to do what you wanted and to not be weighed down by what other people thought. I finally decided that the answer I already had was 'no' and that the worst outcome was that it would still be 'no'."

"I'm glad for you, really."

"Thanks. When I get back to Dalton, I'll do what I can to extinguish any flames of possible intervention by anyone. I don't think there's anyone left who would even bother to try to listen to him. Do Nick and Jeff know?"

"Well, it's likely they do now since he posted it to Facebook. I'm not sure where he posted it because I deactivated my account a long time ago. But I didn't tell them personally. We hadn't told anyone personally except our parents and my boss. Santana and Rachel obviously found out last night."

"So, you were keeping it a secret?"

"No, not really. We weren't hiding it from anyone. We just like living in peace. We figured support would be low and interference would be high. And what other people think makes no difference."

"Well, you can put me in the support side of the scales."

"Thanks," Sam said. "As surprising as it may be, I think you might be the only person we knew in Ohio that will be supportive."

"I think Nick and Jeff will be. They were really upset with themselves that they had bought into the lies. They both really like you, Kurt. That's why they were the ones who drove 90 minutes to go pick you up."

"Well, I liked them too, which was why it was all the more hurtful that they hadn't talked to me and asked what had happened before they believed his side of things."

"They did get in contact with you, right?"

"Yeah, they emailed me and apologized."

"So, when are you moving here?" Sam asked.

"Well, I guess not until I can move into the dorms, so August sometime."

"We're moving upstate in 5 weeks. If you're ever up for a 2-hour drive, you can come visit. We have a comfortable couch," Sam offered.

"I might take you up on that."

"If you want to move away from Ohio sooner, and you're dad is willing to pay, the apartment complex we're moving into offers 2-months summer leases for students," Kurt said.

"That's an idea. I'm not sure what he's expecting. I'm going to do my best to go along with whatever it is since he's done a complete about-face on what I can study."

"I understand," Kurt said.

"On a completely different topic, we made it to the national competition. It's here in New York City next weekend."

"That's great! Maybe we could come watch. Text me the details and we'll see."

"I will."

"What songs are you singing?"

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"Well, that was an unexpected nice dinner. Mine was delicious. I hope yours was good too."

"It was. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sebastian has turned into a decent human being."

"When he apologized last year before Regionals last year, he meant it."

"It's not that I didn't believe you. It was just nice to see it myself. I'm glad he's going to get to study what he wants to. I can't imagine being told that I had to study something I absolutely would hate to study."

"A lot of the guys at Dalton are expected to study whatever their family deems appropriate."

They got on the subway and listened to music because it was crowded. Once they got off, they started talking again. They discussed the things on their must-do list and their plans for the next day.

They got to their building and found Blaine sitting on the steps near their apartment.

"Kurt, I need to talk to you. It won't take long, but can we at least go inside so we have some privacy."

Sam opened the door and the other two followed him inside. Blaine sat in the chair again.

"I won't be back to bother you again. I'll be back after graduation, but you'll be gone by then. I need you to call your dad and tell him that I came to see you and that I told you I won't bother you anymore."

"Thank you. I'll tell him that you stopped by and agreed to stop interfering. What you did yesterday was really reprehensible. If you had hoped that we might go back to being on friendly terms, you blew that yesterday."

Kurt got up and walked into their bedroom area, leaving Sam to escort Blaine out.

Sam locked the door after Blaine left. "Kurt?"

"I'm okay, Sam. I'm just taking my shoes and clothes off to get in the shower. I just had nothing left to say to him and didn't want him to think that I was offering him the chance to say anything else."

"Alright. Can I join you?"

"Always."

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Kurt picked up his phone and called his dad before heading into the shower.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, kiddo. What's up?"

"Well, Blaine was sitting on the stairs waiting for us when we came back and assured me that he was done interfering in my life. And he requested that I call you and tell you that he had been here."

"Alright then. That's what I needed to know."

"I'm not going to ask."

"I figured not. But rest assured, he's done bothering you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Carole and I are going to be able to visit the middle of June. Will that work for you two?"

"Sure. Are you wanting to stay with us?"

"No, no. We're getting a hotel room. We're all going to go to that lodge you talked about for the last night. I'll get Carole to text you the dates."

"Sounds good."

"I'm gonna go. I'm too old to stay up so late."

"You aren't old, but goodnight, Dad. Love you."

"'Night, love you too."

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Sunday morning over breakfast they went over their must-see lists.

"I think we've done a good job. I think we've covered everything on our original list," Sam said.

Kurt was looking up the details of the a cappella competition the following weekend. "We could go to this and not mess up our plans. The competition is in the evening. Do you want to go?"

"Is it expensive?"

"Oh, never mind. The tickets are $40 each. I'll have to let Sebastian know that we won't be there, but we might be able to meet up with them afterwards."

"That's pricey. I guess I never paid attention to the cost of tickets for the competitions because we were in them, not attending them."

"Me neither." Kurt texted Sebastian thanking him for the invitation, but letting him know that it wasn't going to be possible.

"Grab our lunches and let's get going. We've been planning this for ages. I want to get there when they open to get to see as much of it as we can in one day."

Sam opened the fridge and put their lunches in his backpack. "I know. I'm really excited. I'm sure it's worth the $40 for both of us to get in. Let's go."

Kurt rinsed their plates, but left them in the sink to wash later and they headed out. Sam took his hand as soon as he had locked the door and they took off toward the subway. They got there about 10 minutes before the doors opened. Kurt took his phone out and pulled up the map and they made a plan for the day.

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"That was so much fun. I'm so glad we came," Kurt said. They were walking along the sidewalk heading back to the subway swinging their joined hands between them.

"Me too. I think we could spend several days or a week in there."

"The funniest part was when you did the voice for the moai and the kids turned around absolutely convinced that it had talked when they weren't looking."

Sam smiled and laughed. "That was fun. I wasn't really paying attention to the fact that they had their backs turned. But it was really funny watching them try to convince their parents that it had talked."

"Next weekend is art weekend. The Met and the Guggenheim. Should be really cool. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too. I loved it when we went to MoMA. Next weekend should be awesome."

They talked about the exhibits they had enjoyed that day and pieces they were looking forward to seeing the next weekend as they continued their journey back home.

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They warmed up their dinner when they got back home and sat down to eat together. Kurt noticed he had missed some texts.

"Sebastian says that he can get us tickets, if we want to go."

"Meaning he's going to buy them?"

"He wasn't specific, but he seems to really want us to be there. I'm going to say okay, unless you really don't want to go."

"No, it should be cool right? I mean the Warblers have always been really great and if the other groups are as good as them, then it ought to be a really good show."

"Alright. I'll text him back after we eat."

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The next week was much like the rest of their weeks. School, work, schoolwork.

They watched Blaze one evening. Sam had built a folding puppet stage and Kurt had made a curtain for it for Blaze's birthday. They took it with them to surprise him, since it was a few days before his birthday. The three of them practiced the puppet show that Blaze had written a script for, using he puppets he had been making with Sam after school. When Margaret got back, Kurt had his camera set up to record their performance for her.

Sam started working on his final project for his painting class. He had improved over the course of the semester and they had enough really good paintings to decorate a small house.

"I'm going to have to come up with a way to sell off some of the paintings or give them away or something."

"What? No," Kurt said. "I like all of them."

Sam walked over to where Kurt was sitting on the couch reading and knelt down next to the couch and kissed him gently. "While that is very sweet and I appreciate the fact that you are so supportive, we aren't going to be able to keep all of my artwork ourselves."

Kurt made a pouty face.

Sam laughed and kissed the pout off.

"But I don't know how to pick between them. It's like picking a favorite song. I've never been good at that."

"Well, the idea is to make a living at this, not to become an art collector," Sam laughed. "I'm supposed to get good enough at it that people will actually pay for them and we'll use the money the way we use the money from whatever roles you get."

"I know. I really do. But I never thought about how hard it would be to let one of them leave. I've watched you create them and take such care in their creation." He sighed loudly.

"Kurt, sweetheart, I love that you love them so much. We're going to have to work this out somehow. You can't be the only one who makes money doing what you love in the long run."

Kurt put his book down and scooted forward and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck and pressed his forehead against Sam's. "I'll work on it. I didn't realize that I would get so emotional about the whole idea."

Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and kissed him. "We'll work on it."

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The opportunity came sooner that Sam had thought it would. He came home from school and work on Thursday with information about an end of the year art fair at the school. He waited until after dinner to talk to Kurt about it.

"So, I found out about this at school today." He handed Kurt the participation sheet.

"Oh," he said, obviously unenthused. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be this way about it, really. I absolutely want you to be successful."

"I know you do."

"I need to get over this. So, how many pieces can you enter?"

"Ten."

"So, you can show 10 pieces and put them up for sale?"

"Yes. We get to keep half of the sale price and the art department gets the other half to buy more supplies for next year."

"Well, that seems like a reasonable thing to participate in. It's been really nice not to have to pay for all of your supplies this semester. I was actually surprised that there wasn't an additional charge for the art classes."

"So, I need to go through what I have and pick some things to put in the show."

"You're not going to put all paintings are you?"

"No, I'll put half pottery pieces since those are hard to display."

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Just 5 paintings then."

"They're going to photograph the pieces professionally and give us CDs with the photos so we can use the pieces for our portfolios."

"That's nice of them."

"I need to take them to school Monday."

"Okay." Kurt got up and cleared the table and washed the dishes. He grabbed the pots and pans and washed them too. He struggled not to cry.

Sam dried the dishes and put them away, but quit once Kurt had gotten them all washed. He hung the towel up and wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him close.

"I really don't know why this bothers me so much. I'm sorry. I'm making this sad when it should be exciting for you."

"How about I just include ones that I painted back in Ohio this time? We'll work on figuring out what's so upsetting about selling the newer ones. I'll go through the ones I brought with me that aren't hanging, okay?"

"Alright. I'm really sorry."

He loosened his hold enough to look Kurt in the eyes. "There is no need to be sorry for how you feel about something. We'll figure it out." He held him closer again.

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"So, the Met was amazing. Absolutely fantastic," Kurt said as they were headed toward the theater to watch the a cappella competition.

"It really was. It's hard not to feel a huge wave of inferiority in there though."

"Hey, don't think that way. You're really good."

"And you're super biased," he leaned over and kissed Kurt on the temple as they continued to walk.

"Well, I'm allowed to be biased. And you are really good. You got into art school didn't you? And more than one. And you got an art scholarship."

"That's true. We're here."

"Sebastian's supposed to come out with the tickets at 5:45. We'll just wait here for him."

They talked about some of their favorite pieces while they waited.

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"Hey, guys!"

They turned and walked toward Sebastian. He handed them the tickets and they walked inside with him. "Wait for us in the lobby over there afterwards," he pointed to a bench.

"Alright. Thanks. And good luck!" Kurt said as Sebastian ran off.

They got in line to go into the auditorium and handed their tickets to the usher who indicated which way to go to get to their seats. They found them, sat down and waited for it to start. They looked through their program and saw that there were 9 groups. The Warblers had drawn the 5th spot.

It was a good show the Warblers placed 3rd. They waited for them where Sebastian said and about fifteen minutes later, they all arrived.

"Okay, we are all starving and we're going to get dinner. The two of you are invited," Sebastian said.

Kurt and Sam got up and followed them to the restaurant they had chosen. Kurt and Sam both realized that there was no way they could afford to eat dinner where they were going, but they went in because they didn't want to cause a scene or get a pity meal if they said something.

"Alright, we have a small room reserved for all of us." Sebastian said as he held the door open. Kurt and Sam were at the back of the line. Sebastian stopped Kurt. He whispered, "The Warblers are paying for this. Please eat."

Kurt nodded. He took Sam's hand and let Sebastian walk past them and told him what Sebastian had said.

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They all sat down and looked through the menu. That's when Kurt and Sam really realized how fancy it was. There were no prices on the menu. They both looked through and made their choices. Everyone ordered quickly and then the chatter started.

A few minutes later, Nick, who was sitting next to Kurt, stood up and everyone quieted down. "We're really glad that Kurt and Sam have come with us this evening. We wanted to offer our sincerest apology for taking part in the event at the school earlier this year. We allowed ourselves to be misled. Jeff, Trent, and I should have spoken with you personally before we agreed to anything so outlandish. We knew you best and twice we've really screwed things up. We're really sorry."

Kurt nodded. He saw Trent was crying.

Jeff stood up next. "We've all gotten over our collective crush on Blaine. Actually, there was a vote after we found out the truth and he was removed from the Warbler's roster. He will not be invited to any future Warbler Alumni events."

That surprised Kurt the most. "Once a Warbler, always a Warbler" didn't apply if you lied to the Warblers and embarrassed them. Kurt just nodded in understanding. It seemed like they were waiting for a response from him, so he stood.

"Thank you for inviting us tonight and congratulations on placing third. That's really impressive for your first time participating." He sat back down.

Everyone started back in talking amongst themselves. Trent got up and grabbed an extra chair from another table and pulled it up alongside Kurt on the side that Sam was sitting.

"Kurt, I'm really sorry. I'm glad you and Sam are happy together. I had no idea you were seeing someone else when Blaine came to us and asked us to help him. But that doesn't excuse the fact that I should have found out more about the situation before I agreed to participate. It seemed like such a fairytale idea. But afterwards, I realized that it was more scary movie than fairytale when the person being asked is surprised. I've learned a lesson at your expense and I'm really sorry."

"Trent, I know how much you looked up to Blaine. I was never quite sure why specifically, but you know I was just as starry eyed as you about him. I allowed myself to be fooled by him a lot more than you did. I'm not holding this against any of you. I mean I was dumb enough to start dating him after he pulled the Gap Attack fiasco. We should have all been suspended for that. That was so wrong. There were so many things that were wrong, but I overlooked all of them. I can't blame any of you for doing the same thing."

Kurt stood up. "I didn't really know what to say a few minutes ago, but I do now. It's what I just said to Trent. I'm not holding this against any of you. I allowed myself to be fooled by him more than any of you ever did. I overlooked so many things. I can't blame any of you for buying into the persona. I'm not angry with any of you or holding what happened against you." Kurt sat back down.

"Thank you," Trent said. "I'm glad you two came tonight." He stood up and put the chair back and went back to his own seat.

Kurt and Sam talked to Nick and Jeff while they waited for their food to arrive. Everyone ate once they food was served and the chatter mostly died down. The food was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy what they had ordered.

Once everyone had finished, the plates were cleared and a cake was brought out and sat in front of Kurt and Sam. It was decorated with beautiful chocolate swirl patterns. On the top it said "Kurt & Sam" written in elegant script with the same chocolate as the swirls.

They were both shocked. "Thank you," they both said.

The server handed them the cake cutter. They took it and held it together and cut two slices of cake for themselves. They knew what everyone was waiting for. They took their forks and fed each other bites of the cake and everyone applauded.

Sebastian stood up. "We're going to sing for you, but not a sappy love song. This is because you inspired me to live my life on my terms."

Background vocals started and Kurt and Sam started to smile. Sebastian sang lead.

 _This ain't a song for the broken hearted_

 _No silent prayer for the faith-departed_

 _I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd._

 _You're gonna hear my voice_

 _When I shout it out loud_

 _It's my life_

 _It's now or never._

 _I ain't gonna live forever._

 _I just want to live while I'm alive._

 _My heart is like an open highway_

 _Like Frankie said_

 _I did it my way_

 _I just want to live while I'm alive_

 _It's my life_

 _This is for the ones that stood their ground_

 _It's for Tommy and Gina who never backed down_

 _Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake_

 _Luck ain't enough_

 _You've' got to make your own breaks_

 _You better stand tall when they're calling you out_

 _Don't bend, don't break, don't back down_

 _It's my life_

 _It's now or never_

 _I ain't gonna live forever_

 _I just want to live while I'm alive_

 _My heart is like an open highway_

 _Like Frankie said_

 _I did it my way_

 _I just want to live while I'm alive_

 _It's my life_

By the time they finished, Kurt was nearly laughing. He stood up and clapped for them when they were done singing. "That was fantastic. Really. Thank you." He went over and hugged Sebastian.

"After I told everyone what I had done and that I was going to Juilliard to study violin instead of going to law school, several of the other guys got up the nerve to confront their fathers."

Nick, Jeff, and a few others stepped forward.

"They're going into the fields of their choice."

"We know we wore you down when you were with us. We didn't listen to your ideas," Trent said.

Nick said, "We never really thought for ourselves, exactly. Sebastian told us your nickname for Dalton. At first, some of us were offended, but then we talked about it. We realized that we had never considered any other options for ourselves. We were dutiful sons, but not many of us were looking forward to our futures."

"And that probably led us to what we did earlier this year," Jeff said. "The whole idea of doing what someone's heart led him to do was so fanciful and fun. Obviously, we should have checked on the truthfulness of the claims, but the idea of the whole thing was so outside the realm of practically arranged marriages that most of us are facing, it was just such a cool thing to be a part of."

"And it would have been if the whole thing hadn't been based on a lie. If you had wanted it," Trent added.

"That's true," Kurt said. "I hope those of you who have chosen your own fields of study will be happy doing it. I never meant to inspire a revolution." He laughed.

"We may be doing the wrong thing. We won't know, but we're convinced that what we were going to do was definitely the wrong thing," Nick said. "I don't want to be a lawyer - at all. So, giving something else a chance is better than doing something I'm certain I don't want to do."

"Well, I wish you all success in your chosen fields," Kurt said.

Most of the group had sat back down, and at that point, everyone else did. Slices of cake were cut and passed out.

Once everyone had finished, they started putting their blazers back on, and quite a few came up and hugged Kurt and shook hands with Sam.

Nick said, "We have to head out. The teachers that came with us gave us until 10:30. So, we have to go meet them out front."

"Thank you. For all of this."

"Thank you for not holding all of the things we did against us," Jeff said.

The group was mostly standing by the door to the room, just waiting for a few stragglers, and then they started to file out.

Kurt and Sam walked to the back of the line. Sebastian had hung back as well. He handed Kurt a greeting card. "Open it when you get home."

Kurt looked perplexed, but said, "Alright. Thank you. I loved the song." He gave Sebastian another hug and Sebastian took off to catch up to the others.

Kurt put the card in his satchel and took Sam's hand and they headed to the subway.

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They made it back to their apartment close to midnight. They took a quick shower and got in bed because they had plans to be back in midtown early the next morning.

Kurt had put the card on his side dresser, but hadn't opened it. Sam double-checked the door, turned off all of the lights, and got into bed.

"I can't read in the dark." Kurt laughed and kissed Sam on the shoulder.

Sam grabbed the electric candle and turned it on. "We'll be like the settlers and read by candlelight."

Kurt grabbed the card and opened it. The card itself was a fairly typical "congratulations on getting married" card. But it was what was inside the card that surprised them both.

"Does that say what I think it says?" Sam asked.

"If you think it says $1500, then you're right."

"Why did they give us $1500?"

"Maybe it's a Warbler tradition? I have no idea really. I'll text Sebastian in the morning."

Sam turned some music on, turned the candle off, and rolled over to face Kurt. "Big spoon, little spoon, sleep on me?"

"Hmm. Sleep on you."

Sam moved his arm so Kurt could cuddle up, and then wrapped his arm around Kurt. He kissed the top of his head. "I love you."

Kurt moved even closer and intertwined their legs and hands. "I love you too."

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The next morning, they were up and ready to leave early again. Once they were in midtown, they headed toward the Guggenheim, and Kurt texted Sebastian. They arrived quickly and went inside to start their exploration of the museum. They started at the top and worked their way down through the museum.

They chose to stay in the museum and finish seeing the exhibits rather than break for lunch. After they left, they took the lunch they had packed to Central Park for a mid-afternoon picnic.

"We need to find a good picnic spot after we move," Sam said.

"I agree. Four more weeks. It's coming soon."

"I'm finally graduating. Finally."

"You've worked really hard. I hope you're proud of yourself."

"I am. It's just weird. Coming here was a huge change. I've attended 4 high schools and it's finally going to be over. I got into college. I have to remind myself of that. Sometimes all of this feels like a dream. A really good dream." He took Kurt's hand and kissed his knuckles. "Definitely my best plan – coming here to be with you."

They stood up and took a walk through the park down to Conservatory Pond. Once they reached a wooded area where there weren't many people, Kurt walked them off of the path and into the trees a little ways. He wrapped his arms around Sam and held him. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt as well, attempting to put his hands where he had when they were in the woods hiking. Kurt cleared his throat gently and Sam laughed and moved his hands back up to Kurt's waist. Kurt stepped back a bit and kissed him, which surprised Sam, but he went with it and kissed back.

"I'm so glad you came. My life is so much better with you in it." Kurt kissed him again. He grabbed Sam's hand again and walked back toward the path. They walked along the pond for a while, and then headed to the metro station.

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Sebastian finally texted back that evening. Sam was working on packing up his paintings that he was taking to the art show, while Kurt was reading a book on his Kindle.

"What did he say?" Sam asked, figuring that it was Sebastian, since it was mostly Carole and Sebastian that texted Kurt. Burt always preferred calling.

"That it's a Warbler tradition to buy any Warbler who gets married something nice from their gift registry and either send it or take it to the wedding. And since we eloped and have no registry, they each contributed $100, which they thought was a reasonable gift."

"Wow."

"I guess at some point, I'll have to start participating in this tradition. Hopefully, the rest of them wait to get married until I have more money."

"How about if I paint a warbler and we mail it to the group?"

"That would be nice. You could do an 11x14 water color and we could roll it carefully and mail it. They could frame it or whatever they want. It could go on the mantel in the Warblers practice room."

"I'll start on it tomorrow in class."

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Sam finished the painting a few days later and Kurt mailed it off during his lunch on Friday. He had been dreading the art show that evening, but still wasn't really able to pinpoint why it upset him so much to for Sam to sell his artwork.

He got home just a few minutes after Sam usually did, but he wasn't a the door to great him, so he wondered if he had actually gotten home first, but he found him in the bedroom looking through his clothes when we went to put his bag away.

"Need help?" Kurt put his hands on Sam's face gently and pulled him into a kiss.

"As much as I absolutely want to kiss you more, yes, please help me pick out what to wear. The show starts at 7:00 and we need to leave soon."

Kurt quickly picked out a shirt, tie, and slacks for both of them. They changed quickly. Kurt grabbed a couple of granola bars and they headed off to the school.

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Kurt walked around and looked through the other artists' areas and admired their pieces. He glanced toward Sam frequently to see if people were stopping to look at his stuff. Quite a few people were in his booth every time Kurt looked. He managed to get a few decent photos of Sam talking to people about his pieces.

He noticed red stickers on the price tags of most of the pieces Sam had displayed, which meant that they had been sold. Before the end of the evening, all of Sam's pieces had been spoken for. He knew it was time to congratulate Sam and he couldn't put off going over to his area anymore.

He had tried to stay away to keep people from being prejudiced against Sam. Maybe it wasn't an issue, but Kurt was determined to make sure that he didn't do anything to ruin the night for Sam since it was his very first show. When the show was ending, Kurt went over to Sam's area.

"You did it. They all sold. That's really amazing. I didn't see anyone else who had sold every piece they displayed." He realized then that he wasn't actually upset about the pieces being sold.

"I kept hoping you'd come over, but you stayed away."

"I didn't to scare away any of your potential buyers."

Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt. "I appreciate that you were trying to help, but I'm not ashamed of you or of us."

Kurt just nodded and stepped back out of the hug. "What do you need to do now?"

"Well, the buyers have to pay and then they bring the receipt and they can take the pieces home. So, I have to stay for a little bit."

"Alright. I can go sit somewhere and wait for you."

"No, please stay. I mean it. If they don't want my painting or pottery, then they can change their minds, but I want you with me. I'm not hiding and I'm not hiding you either."

"Okay. I'll stay." He looked carefully at Sam's pieces that had been displayed. He figured out why it didn't bother him that they had been sold.

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"This is going to be perfect for my waiting room. It's just lovely," a woman about 40 said as she came to pick up the painting she had chosen. "Do you have a website? People who come to see me might want to buy a painting from you too."

"I don't, but I can give you my email address. I'll work on getting a website up after graduation. I'm sure I can get it done over the summer before my classes start."

Kurt wrote Sam's email address on a piece of paper that the woman handed Sam and handed it back to her.

"Thank you, dear."

"You're welcome."

Several other people asked Sam the same question. Kurt gave Sam's email address to them as well.

Eventually all of the pieces had been picked up and Sam could leave. He went over to the sales desk and was handed a check for $800. He carefully carried it over to the area where his paintings had been and pulled his phone out and took a picture of it. He emailed the picture to his parents. He was wiping tears from his eyes, trying to keep them back.

He put his phone away and folded the check and put it in his wallet. He reached out for Kurt's hand and they walked out of the gymnasium and back to their apartment.

As soon as they got inside, Kurt locked the door and followed Sam to their bedroom. He was already slipping the tie off. Kurt took it and put it where it belonged, along with the one he was wearing.

He wrapped himself around Sam in a big bear hug. "That was amazing! You're amazing!"

"I'm an artist - a real, honest-to-God artist. People bought my pieces - all of them. It felt like a dream before – like just something I wanted to happen that would never happen. But it did."

Kurt wiped the tears that slipped down his cheeks and gently kissed him. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For making you feel like I didn't want you to be an artist. I never meant for you to think that."

"I knew you didn't. I know you want me to succeed. I've always known that."

"I figured out what my issue is."

"Okay.

"They're like a part of you and I don't want to lose any part of you."

"You just have to rethink it a little. They are a part of me, but the part of me that I want to share with other people."

"It's a little more than that. I wasn't bothered by the pieces you showed tonight being sold and I had to consider why. I wasn't with you when you created those pieces. You do pottery at school because you can't do it at home. And those paintings were ones you did in school in Ohio."

"Okay?"

"And the ones in here, the ones you've painted here at home – I was with you. When I see them, I remember what we were talking about or what book I was reading or what music we were listening to. It's like a part of what we did together is gone if the painting is gone."

"I'll make sure I photograph all of the ones that I do at home. That way you can look at the pictures whenever you want. I still want to say something about letting them go though."

"Okay."

"When you sing, sometimes you sing for yourself, right?"

"Mmm hmm."

"And sometimes you sing what the other person needs to hear. Other times you sing what someone else tells you to sing."

"Right."

"My artwork is sort of like that too. Sometimes I create something for someone specific and I gift it to them because I made it for them. Just like when you sing a song for someone else's enjoyment. Sometimes I paint something just because I want to – for myself. Afterwards, I might want to keep it, but sometimes it was just for the fun of doing it and challenging myself to do it. Like if you challenged yourself to learn a really hard piece of music that you had no where to perform."

"Okay."

"And sometimes I paint or create something because someone else wants me to, like for an assignment at school. Or some day maybe people will commission me to create something. Those pieces mean less to me personally, not because I put less work into them, but because the subject matter was chosen by someone else. Like when Mr. Schue told us to sing a particular song."

"Some of the pieces that were assigned to you became my favorites because of the process of you painting them involved us together here at home."

"Yes. I found that to be the case as well. Whenever you've been around while I'm working on something, it becomes more interactive and it's more like working on something I've chosen to do on my own."

"Taking the photos will just have to suffice. I'm not going to be an obstacle to your success just because I'm a sentimental sap."

"You are the sweetest sentimental sap ever and I love you so much."

"Well, I'm glad you can put up with my sappiness. I love you too."

"Hey." Sam tipped Kurt's chin up just slightly so they were looking at each other. "I'm not putting up with your sappiness. You are a very caring person. You put so much love into everything you do for me. I feel your love all the time. You make me feel like the luckiest guy in the world."

"I'm glad." Kurt started unbuttoning Sam's shirt. "Shower?"

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As they lay in bed snuggled up with music playing, Sam was running his hand along Kurt's arm.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Margaret got a job in Portland. She and Blaze are moving when school gets out."

"That's great that she found a job so quickly. And it solves the issue of Blaze feeling like you're leaving him behind when we move upstate. I know that was a concern of yours."

"Yeah, because he keeps saying how much he's going to miss me. It's hard. But with them moving so far away, I know he won't miss me less, but it will be more understandable why I can't watch him anymore. I'm going to miss him too."

"I know. You have a great time with him. It's like getting paid to have fun."

"It is. I do get paid to have fun."

"Maybe you can find something similar after we move. Maybe someone will be looking for a nanny or private after-school care. If not, maybe there are camps or something hiring for the summer. I have to start my serious job search this next week too. I'll be back to fixing fuel pumps and tie rods."

"At least it pays well."

"It's a nightmare to get all of the grease off my hands."

Sam laughed. "You've managed so far."

"I know and I will do what it takes."

"You're a very sexy grease monkey."

"Is that so?"

"Well…actually, you're just really sexy all the time."

"Are you still trying to keep your hands to yourself?"

"Sometimes."

"What did I say about that?"

"Not to?"

"Exactly."

Sam rolled him over onto his back and started tickling him.

"Now, wait," Kurt said in between laughing.

"Wait?"

"I didn't say to tickle me."

"But I'm putting my hands on you like you said I could," Sam teased.

"How about less tickling and more caressing or massaging?"

"I can do that."

He reached up and ran both of his hands down Kurt's arms. "You're gorgeous. And incredibly sexy."

"Mmm. That feels nice. I know you were teasing with the tickling, but I was serious. If you're holding back for some reason, you don't need to. I'm as much a teenage guy as you are. If you're in the mood, I probably am too."

"Well, you being in the room makes me in the mood and thinking about you when you're not around makes me in the mood."

"I have the same exact issue. Always."

"And touching you puts the dial at 11 on a 10 point scale."

Kurt laughed.

"And we have other things to do. I have to have some restraint. I can't just strip you down when you walk in the door and toss you in the bed."

"Could be fun," Kurt teased. "but only if we shower first. Strip me down, put me in the shower, and then toss me in the bed. Riding the subway home always makes me feel like I need to shower."

"Well, we've already accomplished all three of those things, minus the tossing, but same result. You're in the bed."

Kurt reached up and put his hands on Sam's shoulders and pulled him down and started kissing him. He whispered in his ear, "I'm up for whatever you want."


	9. Chapter 9

The next three weeks went by quickly with Sam working on his final projects and Kurt helping him with his Art History reading. He had a final paper to write for Art History rather than a final exam. He started on that as soon as he had the exact requirements for it. He worked on it during his resource periods as well.

Kurt's last few weeks at Vogue were bittersweet. He loved working for Isabelle and was really going to miss her. He knew he would not miss the backbiting and gossiping that went on in the office. Being male, he wasn't the target frequently, but it bothered him nonetheless.

Isabelle wrote him a letter of recommendation in case he had any fashion opportunities in his near future. She also gave a glowing review of Kurt's punctuality and attention to detail to the shop owner who called her asking about Kurt.

Margaret's internship had ended the week before they were moving, and Sam had only been to visit Blaze twice the last week before moving. Monday he went just for fun. He took Blaze swimming and to their favorite park one last time. He went back on Tuesday to help the two of them pack. On Tuesday, Sam took Blaze a painting of the park they visited frequently, which Blaze loved. They weren't taking their furniture cross-country, just their personal belongings. Sam offered to buy their small wood credenza they had their TV on and Margaret just gifted it to him. He had Kurt drive the car to Margaret's, brought a pizza to share as a final goodbye dinner together. They brought the small credenza back with them on Tuesday evening and painted it to match the rest of their furniture.

By the time his last day at Vogue rolled around, Kurt had secured a position at a shop not too far from their new apartment. As his going away present, Isabelle gifted him with a tuxedo. He was shocked and thrilled. She assured him that he would need one at some point in his singing career. He accepted it graciously. He hugged Isabelle and thanked her profusely.

Sam turned his final paper in and was officially done with his schoolwork that Thursday as well. He brought home boxes when he got out of school. By the time Kurt got home, Sam had taped the bottoms of several of the boxes in preparation for packing. He had finished packing their books and he had also managed to finish packing their jackets and shoes before Kurt got home.

Kurt came in and Sam met him with a big hug and a kiss.

"Wow, you've been busy. Thank you." Kurt kissed him.

"I figured we'll cook for the rest of the evening and pack up everything into ziplock bags. Then we can pack up the dishes and all of the kitchen stuff tomorrow and just eat whatever we make tonight."

"Good plan. I know we didn't go shopping Saturday so that we could eat what we have and not worry with trying to pack it. So, it will be a hodge-podge day of food. We can go shopping Sunday."

"I'm graduating. We're moving. We're going to college!" Sam spun him around in a hug.

"Yes, you are graduating! It's fantastic. You did it."

"Let's cook." He slow danced Kurt into the kitchen and spun him around and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist.

"Mmm." Kurt reached up behind him and wrapped his hands behind Sam's neck. "I'm not sure we're going to get anything cooked like this."

Sam ran his hands down Kurt's sides. "Alright." He kissed the back of Kurt's neck.

Kurt turned back toward Sam and caught his lips and pressed up against him, pushing him slightly until he was against the kitchen wall.

"My willpower is minimal. I've been thinking about you all day." Kurt continued with the kissing, down Sam's neck, back up, and then he licked the edge of his earlobe.

"Let's go shower and we'll cook later."

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"I'm not sure I can focus with you in your boxer briefs and an apron."

"You're the one that packed our pajamas already because we never wear them to bed anyway." Kurt laughed.

"Well, that part's true. We wear them to lounge around in and watch movies, but we never sleep in them."

"Well, let's get cooking. We've already given into temptation - twice."

"Maybe the third time's the charm." Sam waggled his eyebrows.

Kurt laughed. "Well, that can be arranged AFTER we cook this food. I'm going to run out of energy if you don't feed me." Kurt blinked his eyes and made the sad puppy face.

"Now, none of that. I can't have you starve when I need you all full of energy." Sam pulled out all of the stuff that needed cooked and Kurt got out the pots and pans. An hour later, everything was bagged up, they had eaten, and they were nearly finished with the dishes.

"So, are you full of energy again?"

Kurt swished and swaggled across the room to put what he was drying in the box.

Sam laughed. "I'll take that as a yes." They finished drying everything and packed all the pots and pans in the box and sealed it.

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The next morning, they started packing everything else in the apartment. They left out a dress outfit and a moving outfit for Saturday and packed the rest of their clothes. They stacked all of the boxes near the door and moved all of their furniture near the door as well, except the bed and couch. By the end of the day they were pretty tired, but happy with themselves that they had gotten it all done by dinnertime.

They went out for a celebratory graduation dinner to a sit-down restaurant. Afterwards, they went back home and enjoyed their traditional early snuggle evening.

Saturday morning, they drove to the U-Haul location, making one stop on the way there, and Kurt drove the truck back to their place. They wrapped the bed in the plastic they had gotten while they were out. Kurt ran the sheets down to the washer and got them started while they were loading their furniture onto the truck. Santana agreed to sit on the back of the truck to keep would-be furniture snatchers away from the truck in exchange for Kurt and Sam agreeing to carry her bed down from the loft.

They loaded everything in the truck in a couple of hours and locked it. They carried Santana's bed down as agreed. Kurt moved the sheets to the dryer and he and Sam changed for the graduation ceremony. Kurt grabbed their sheets, and they did a final look around the apartment but didn't find anything. They gave Santana the keys and headed off to the school for the ceremony.

Kurt took pictures with his camera and recorded the section of the ceremony when Sam's name was called and he walked across the stage to get his diploma with Sam's phone. He took photos afterwards of Sam in his cap and gown. Sam got one of his classmates to take a few photos of the two of them together. He turned the robe back in and the two of them headed back to the apartment.

They grabbed their moving clothes and knocked on the apartment door. Santana let them in and they changed in the bathroom. They said their goodbyes and left. Kurt climbed in the truck and Sam drove his car.

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A little over two hours later, they pulled into their new apartment's parking lot. They retrieved the keys from the manager and started carrying all of their furniture up to their apartment.

"These stairs are killers," Kurt said after what seemed like the 500th trip up them.

"I know, but there were no ground floor places available. Plus, I really do like not having people walk past our bedroom window."

Once they finally had everything inside the apartment, Sam followed Kurt to the U-Haul drop-off location. They stopped and got a salad at a drive through and went back to the apartment.

The apartment was basically a fat rectangle, but not quite square. The door opened from the east to the right, in the northeast corner of the room. Along the north wall was a wide, short window. Along the west wall was the kitchen, which took up the whole wall down to the bathroom. The bathroom was in the southwest corner of the room. Along the wall that separated the bathroom from the rest of the apartment, there was a closet that ran the full length of the bathroom wall. The south wall was up against the apartment next door. The east wall had two wide, short windows, one in the area they were using as their bedroom and one near the door.

"Alright. I'm getting the sewing machine out and fixing the curtains ASAP. How about you start with the bathroom stuff? We can get rid of those boxes quickly."

"Got it."

Kurt measured and carefully cut their curtains in half, allowing for the hem and seam allowances. He resewed them and put buttonholes in the top of the new sections. He finished the set for the bedroom area first.

Sam had already started on emptying out the kitchen boxes onto the countertop.

"Can you find the iron and turn it on so we can get these ironed and hung up? I'm going to work on getting the others done, but in case we give up and want to go to bed first, we can put the screen up and no one can see the bed from the other windows.

Sam found it, plugged it in, turned it on, and set up the ironing board. A few minutes later, they were working together to get them ironed and hung.

"Perfect," Sam said. "You are amazing at that. Really."

"I try. I'm going to get started on the next set, but first let's get the bed and the dressers into position. That way you can start to put our clothes in the dressers while I sew." They moved the bed so the head was against the south wall, with a small dresser on each side.

Kurt went back to resewing the living room curtains while Sam put clothes away. He moved on to the hanging clothes once he finished the clothes that went in the dressers.

Sam took a break and helped with the ironing again. They hung the second set of curtains on the window that ran along the north wall. They both returned to their tasks. Kurt finally finished the third set not too long after Sam had gotten all of their clothes hung in the closet. They hung the last set up on the window near the door.

"Perfect. Now, no one can see in." Sam walked up behind Kurt and rubbed his shoulders a little. "I know you were tired and sewing is a lot easier when you're not tired, but it means a lot to me that you did the curtains first."

"You're welcome." Kurt turned to face him. "I know people being able to see in bothers you. It bothers me too. Now, no one can see us." He kissed him.

"Let's unwrap the mattress, put it on the frame, and make the bed. Then, once we're too tired to do anything else, we can just go to sleep."

Once they finished putting the sheets on the bed, Sam said, "I vote we just shower and go to sleep and start again in the morning."

"That's fine with me."

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"It's so quiet," Sam said.

"I know. I've gotten accustomed to the noise."

"The CD player and the iPod are still packed. So, no music."

"Kiss me?"

"Of course."

"We'll kiss until we fall asleep."

"Good idea."

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Their tasks early the next morning started with a trip to Lowe's. They had measured the back of the small shelf that had sat on their countertop and the storage shelf that had sat under their bedroom window. They bought a piece of plywood and had it cut the right size for each shelving unit. They also bought a can of black textured spray paint, a concrete block, and a package of the picture hangers that the apartment complex allowed.

They took the backing pieces home and painted them. They put a second coat of paint on as soon as they could. They also took their clothing racks back outside and sat them on some cardboard boxes and spray painted them to make them look nicer and match their furniture. Fortunately it wasn't too hot or humid, so everything dried quickly.

While the items were drying, they tackled the kitchen and decided where to put everything. They were so used to having virtually no storage space that it felt weird spreading things out in the cabinets.

The pieces they had painted weren't dry enough to use, but they were dry to the touch and they carried them back upstairs to let them dry more while they went to the grocery store to stock up.

They brought everything up and put it all away.

"Wow. It's weird to have nothing sitting out in the open."

"It is, but I like it. Especially since the kitchen is open to the whole room," Sam said.

"Let's see if those boards are dry enough to attach."

"They seem fine to me."

They attached the backings to the three shelving units.

"Now comes the tricky part," Kurt said.

The couch was positioned near the middle of the room facing the east wall. They placed the small shelf that had been on top of the cabinet next to the couch on the floor, on the right side when standing behind the couch. They lined up the tall bookcase along the east wall between the windows so it matched with the small shelf.

They stood the divider up next to both of them and slowly pushed the storage shelf that had been under their bedroom window up against the divider from the other side. Kurt was standing on the bedroom side and Sam was on the living room side. They slowly straightened the divider and Kurt pushed the storage shelf until the divider was actually standing with no bends in it, like a flat mini wall.

They used screws, bolts, nickel-diameter washers, and nuts to anchor it in place to the tall bookcase, the small shelf, and the storage shelf. The small storage shelf actually faced the kitchen, so from the front of the couch, the solid back was all that could be seen.

"It shouldn't move once we get the books on the tall shelf. Let's do that next," Kurt said.

Sam moved the boxes of books in front of the shelf and loaded them on.

Kurt pulled out a black undershirt that he hardly wore anymore since they slept without pajamas and he wrapped the concrete block with it and put it on the bottom shelf of the small shelf to keep it in place until they had their schoolbooks to weigh it down once school started. He just sat on the floor for a few minutes afterwards, staring off into space.

"Done," Sam said.

"Alright," Kurt popped back up. "Let's get the stuff out of the boxes that belong on the shelf in the bedroom." Kurt put his sewing machine on the shelf along with his sewing stuff. Sam pulled his art supplies out and put them back on the shelf.

"If it's not stable enough, we can get some 2x2s and run them up from the sides of this storage shelf."

"I think it's okay. It's not like we have kids running through here or anything," Sam pointed out.

"We've just got a few boxes left. Do you want to set up the TV or empty the boxes of shoes?"

"I'll do the TV."

Kurt came back into the living room with the empty boxes from the bedroom. Sam stood up and grabbed all of the ones that had been piled in the living room.

"Let's go dump these in the recycling and come back up and take a look at our new place."

They went down and came back up. They opened the door, walked in, and closed it behind them.

"Nice. I like it."

They had placed one of their clothing racks next to where the door opened back onto the north wall. They would use it to hang coats, both their own and visitors'. The rack fit without blocking the window.

They had set the TV credenza under the window next to the door. The tall bookcase was next to it, against the east wall. The divider was fastened to it.

On the other side of the divider was Kurt's standing mirror, then his desk, and last was their other clothing rack that Kurt had decided to use a place to hang their clothes to dry rather than always having to move them off the shower rod to shower.

Along the south wall were their dressers and their bed. The storage boxes were under the bed on the side where Kurt's desk was. The shoe cubbies faced the closet doors.

Against the divider sat their other storage shelf. The last two sections of the divider were still bendable and when opened back created a doorway of sorts. When folded out, it completely blocked the view into the bedroom from the living room and kitchen area.

Their kitchen table was directly behind the sofa in the space between the sofa and the kitchen counters. The floor lamp was on the end of the couch near the divider, in front of the small shelf. They pointed the shades up and it illuminated both sides of the room.

They looked all around and Kurt leaned into Sam. "We did it. It looks great. All we need now is to hang up your paintings and it will feel like home."

"Alright then. You pick where to put them. I'll get those hanger things and a tape measure."

An hour later, the paintings had been hung and they were done.

"Photos?"

"We told our parents we'd send them, so let's take them and send them."

They took photos from several locations and one final selfie of the two of them sitting on the couch.

Kurt emailed them to both set of parents. "Done and done."

"I'm done. Way, way done. How about we splurge and order a pizza? We'll watch a movie and relax instead of cook."

"Sound like a fabulous idea. You order. We'll shower, wait for it to come, and watch a movie while we eat it."

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They talked while they snuggled and waited for their pizza.

"Can you think of anything that we actually need to get?" Sam asked.

"Well, I'd like a dish drain. Since we have a double sink now, we can put the clean dishes in it and let them dry on their own sometimes. And I'd like to get couple of those drawer cutlery trays. We just kept the silverware in a glass jar before because we had no drawers, but now that we do, I'd like to stick the utensils and the silverware in the drawers."

"Good ideas. I'd like to get one of those shower sprayers with a hose. I got used to the one in the apartment and I don't care for the single showerhead in there. It makes showering together too complicated having to trade positions all the time."

"Definitely one of those."

"What about a couple of throw pillows for the couch, so we don't have to drag our bedroom pillows out here?"

"Also a good idea."

"So, tomorrow we'll go over to the university and check the jobs bulletin board and see if anyone posted wanting a summer nanny. If there are no ads, I'll ask about summer camps. Then we'll get those things, come home and relax all the rest of the day because you start work on Tuesday."

The pizza delivery person knocked on the door. Sam got up to answer it.

"Pizza for Evans?"

"That's me." Sam handed him cash. "Keep the change. Thanks!" He shut the door.

Kurt moved to the table and turned the TV on and started the next episode of _Stargate_. When they finished the pizza, they moved to the couch and watched to the end of the episode.

"One more or go to bed?"

"I thought of something else."

"What?"

"Some kind of clock to sit up on top of the bookcase so we can see it from both sides of the divider."

"Dish drain, cutlery trays, detachable showerhead, and a clock. Got it."

"And let's get in bed. I'm tired, even though I'm not actually sleepy. I just want to snuggle."

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They got up early again Monday and headed out to buy the few things they had decided on the night before. Then they headed over to the university to check the bulletin board for jobs.

"Two professors seeking energetic person to provide full-time summer care for rambunctious twin boys. Must have experience. Preference given to anyone who can give art or music lessons. Must be willing to transport twins to soccer camp and/or practice," Kurt read out loud.

"Rambunctious, huh? Is that a code word for wild and crazy?"

"Probably, but it couldn't hurt to call. The pay might be good since the ad is still up and school gets out the end of this week."

"There are a couple of others that are part-time hours." Sam took a photo of those just in case. "Maybe I could work two of them, depending on the hours."

"Do you want to call the first one and find out more? Or do rambunctious twin boys sound like more than your willing to tackle this summer?"

"Can't hurt to call." He dialed the number. "Hello, my name is Sam Evans and I'm calling about the job posted about summer child care."

"Um. Yeah. Sure. Can you repeat the address?" He put his phone on speaker so Kurt could hear it and write it down.

"I'll be there. Thank you, sir."

"So, I can go meet the twins this evening. You'll come, right?"

"If you want me to."

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They headed home and put the things they had bought where they were going. Kurt fixed the cutlery drawer while Sam installed the showerhead. He came out of the bathroom carrying the original and put it in a ziplock bag without sealing it.

"Once it's dry we can put it in one of the bathroom drawers to put back on when we move out."

"So, what do you think of the pillows?"

Sam lay down and tried one out. "Seems good to me. Maybe a little stiff, but they can be washed, right?"

"Yes. I checked that before we bought them."

"Anything else on our agenda?" Sam got up and walked over to the kitchen where Kurt was still standing.

"Not until 6:00."

"We could try out the new showerhead." Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt from the back and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Are you trying to get me wet and naked?"

"Definitely." He started kissing Kurt's neck.

"Well, we SHOULD see if it works right before we toss out the packaging." He laughed and slipped out of his shirt.

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"Your ideas of showering and a nap just lead to more showering," Kurt teased. "Oh, God, don't stop."

Sam was kissing up the side of Kurt's neck and got to his ear and whispered, "but you're so damn sexy."

"Now I know what happens when we have too much time on our hands," he said as he rolled them over.

"We act like bunnies?" Sam reached over into the drawer.

"Precisely." Kurt took what Sam handed him. "Again?"

"Definitely."

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Sam was standing in just a towel, looking in the closet. "What do I wear to a 'meet the family' interview in someone's home?"

"I think we just go casual. Not completely, though. So, like a button up short sleeve shirt with a t-shirt underneath and cargo shorts with your Vans. So, that way if they want to see you in action, you could slip off the button up and go play."

"Sounds reasonable."

They both got dressed and headed out to the address Kurt had written down earlier.

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They pulled up to a well-maintained two-story house with a two-car garage and a fenced back yard. They got out and walked up the front sidewalk. Before they got to the door a man in his mid-thirties opened the front door and welcomed them inside.

"I'm Drake Edwards." He extended his hand to Sam since he was standing the closest.

"Sam Evans." He shook Drake's hand.

"Kurt Hummel." He also shook Drake's hand.

"Come on in and have a seat please," he said motioning toward the couch.

"Sam, you're the one who called, correct?"

"Yes, sir. Kurt's already employed."

"I see. So, do you have experience taking care of kids?"

"I have a younger brother and sister that I took care of frequently, and from December until just last week, I cared for an 8-year old boy during breaks and for 3 hours a day after school. I gave him guitar lessons and art lessons. I also took him to his swimming lessons."

"I see. Why did you quit working for his family?"

"Well, his mother was a PhD student and she finished her program and they're moving to Oregon for her new job. Also, we moved here over the weekend. We were living in Bushwick, near Brooklyn."

"Do you have a letter or reference or can I contact this boy's mother?"

"Sure. I brought a copy of the letter and her cell phone number is at the bottom, if you'd like to call her."

"I will do that later."

"You mentioned you play guitar. Any other instruments?"

"No, sir."

"Alright. We were hoping to find someone who could give Avery piano lessons."

"I could do that on Mondays over the summer," Kurt said. "Once school starts in the fall, we might have to change the day, depending on my schedule – unless you were just looking for someone for the summer. Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm a music theater major."

"Do you not work on Mondays?"

"I work four 10-hour shifts, Tuesday through Friday."

"That's a possibility then. Let me tell you a little about the twins. I mentioned Avery. Our other son is Oliver. They're 10. They're finishing the fourth grade this week."

"Avery wants to take piano lessons, but I'm honestly not sure how serious he is. We're willing to buy him a keyboard and find out."

"Oliver plays guitar, but doesn't care for the rigid instruction he's been getting in the lessons he's been taking. There's a possibility that he just lacks focus and doesn't want to put the effort in, but there's also a chance that he and the instructor are not a good match."

"Both of them enjoy art. Do you draw?"

"I'm staring school here in the fall as an art major. I can show you some of my work, if you'd like." Sam opened the photo app on his phone and clicked on the folder where he kept this artwork. He handed the phone to Drake.

"Those are very nice." Drake handed his phone back to him.

"Thank you."

"We're looking for someone for the summer, full time as the ad stated. If you're interested, the position could continue in the fall for about 3 hours each afternoon after school. The guy that's been watching them graduated and is moving out of town in a week or two."

"I will be looking to continue to work in the fall."

"I may be overstepping, but the two of you are wearing matching rings?"

"We're married."

"How long?"

"Almost 2 months."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"I was 16, he was 17 when we met. Over two and half years ago, I guess. I'm 19 now and he's 20."

Drake was obviously thinking about something, but snapped back to the present. "Alright, well, would you two be willing to drive out to the park to meet the rest of the family? They'll grab some pizzas and meet us."

"Sure. We'll need to follow you. We've only been here a couple of days."

"That's fine. It's not far." Drake stood and opened the door for everyone to leave and locked it behind them. He got in his car and pulled out and down the street a bit waiting for Kurt and Sam to follow him. It only took about 5 minutes to drive to the park.

They parked in the lot and walked over to a small shelter area with picnic tables underneath.

"Daddy!" one of the twins yelled and practically bowled Drake over with the flying hug he gave him.

Kurt and Sam walked up and were surprised to see another man seated at the table.

"Kurt, Sam, this is my husband Brett. This monkey hanging on me is Oliver."

"Avery's down there, Daddy." He pointed to a playground.

Oliver had dark wavy hair and a slightly tan complexion. From a distance, all they could tell was that Avery had much lighter hair.

"Well, Mr. Monkey, why don't you go get him and tell him we're going to eat the pizza."

Oliver took off running.

"It's nice to meet the two of you," Brett said. "Which one of you is Sam?"

"That'd be me."

"Brett, they're already married. It's just amazing to me that this is finally real. Brett and I had to wait so long to be able to get married legally. And the legal issues raising the twins without us being able to be married. It was complicated. I'm so glad things are changing."

"Drake and I have been together for well, a long time. It's complicated and involves me getting involved with a woman to please my family and her ending up pregnant with twins she didn't want. I won't get into all of the details because it's a real soap opera. But the twins are mine biologically. They don't know the story and won't for a good while. It's hard for adults to understand, much less two kids."

"We've been there, done that. Dated girls, I mean. We don't have any kids."

Brett and Drake laughed and nodded in understanding.

Oliver and Avery came bounding up to the table.

"Who are you?" Avery asked.

"Manners?" Brett prompted.

"Sorry. I'm Avery. What're your names?"

"I'm Kurt."

"I'm Sam."

Brett opened the box and let the boys grab slices of pizza. "I got a cheese pizza and one the boys like. Help yourselves."

Kurt and Sam each took a slice.

"Thanks!" they both said.

"There's several types of drinks. The boys picked a variety. Just take whatever you want."

Sam grabbed two drinks and handed one to Kurt.

"Sam's an incoming art major and Kurt is an incoming musical theater major," Drake said.

"I teach math, calculus mostly, at the university," Brett said.

"I don't think I said what I do. I teach French, mostly literature."

Brett asked, "Where are you two from?"

"Well, I'm from Ohio. I grew up in a small town. I moved to New York City last September."

"I've lived in Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, and back to Ohio. I moved to New York to be with Kurt in December."

"And you both just graduated from high school?" Brett asked.

"No, just me. Kurt graduated last year."

"I worked at Vogue as an intern this past school year."

"And are you working here?"

"I start tomorrow. At Shepherd's Garage."

"Interesting career move," Brett said.

"Well, I design clothes, but I'm a certified mechanic. And being a mechanic pays better than being an intern."

"I'm sure it does," Brett laughed. "Most places try to get away without paying interns at all."

"I've been working full time. I'll be working 10-hour shifts, four days a week for the summer. I'll cut back to about 15 hours a week once school starts."

The six of them ate their fill of pizza and the two boys started chattering about themselves giving far more details than anyone could remember because they were talking quite animatedly and constantly interrupted each other.

"Avery and Oliver, why don't you to take Sam down the playground while the three of us clean everything up?" Brett said.

"Yes, Papa." The boys got up and Sam followed them.

Kurt watched them walk down to the playground.

"The two of you are adorable. It's how we could have been if things had been different," Drake said

"Well, we had our own missed timing, but we're together now."

"And quite happy, as we can see," Brett teased.

"Yes. He's my best friend. He's really the only person who has ever accepted all of me."

"So, how do you think he'd do with two crazy boys?"

"Well, his brother and sister are quite the pair. Non-stop talking and moving. They're let's see… Stacie's 8 and Stevie is 10 now. He watched them most of the time after school when he was 16, turning 17. That summer, his family moved to Kentucky. He went with them for a while, then came back to Ohio and lived with my family for nearly 14 months - until December when he moved to New York to live with me. So, he hasn't lived with them in about…19 months. They talk on the phone still."

"Sounds like your story might be as complicated as ours."

"Could be. Mine involves a lying, cheating, manipulative ex-boyfriend. His involves realizing that he was gay not quite a year ago."

"After you moved away?"

"Yes."

"Definitely as complicated as ours. I won't pry anymore. Maybe we can share war stories sometime," Brett laughed.

Kurt just smiled and looked down at the playground again. He saw Sam motioning for him to come to the playground.

"Excuse me. I'm being summoned," Kurt laughed and took off running toward the playground.

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A half hour later, they were back at the house.

"So, our room and office are down here on the first floor. They are not allowed in either room when we aren't here - too much potential for mischief. The doors lock with keys."

Sam laughed.

They followed Brett and Drake upstairs. "Up here there is alcove at the top of the stairs that they share as a TV and gaming area. If they fight, the TV goes off, no negotiations. If they work out their differences peacefully, it can be turned back on 15 minutes later. No swearing. That's an automatic 15-minute shut-off as well," Drake said.

"They have separate bedrooms. When they were little they shared and we had our room up here. But they've shown that they can be trusted not to flood the bathroom or destroy anything," Brett said praising them where they could hear. "And we're really proud of the fact that they generally work out their differences without the need of yelling and we do not tolerate physical violence. They know that."

"We don't hurt each other," Oliver said.

Avery just nodded.

"That's good," Kurt said. "I grew up being physically bullied. It's a terrible thing to do to someone."

They both nodded.

"They are not required to do schoolwork when they get home. Drake and I are opposed to young children being required to do schoolwork at home. Their teachers are well aware of the fact that we will not tolerate it. If they have reading assignments, we will do those with them when we get home."

Kurt saw Sam relax. He knew that schoolwork was always a stressful topic for him.

"You two stay up here and play with Daddy. I'm going to go down and talk to Kurt and Sam some more."

The three of them went back downstairs and sat in the living room.

"I feel like I should tell you that I'm dyslexic, just so you're aware. If I ever text you and it looks like I'm impaired in some way, I'm not. I just can't spell my way out of a box."

Brett laughed. "It's fine. Being dyslexic isn't a deal killer for us. We're not looking for a tutor. We're basically looking for an adult playmate. We're firm believers in kids getting to be kids and they already spend 8 hours a day at school. They attend a private school with good teachers. For what we pay, we expect them to do their jobs, not send the work home for us to do it with them."

Kurt and Sam nodded.

"So, would you be coming with Sam on Mondays?"

"I can. Drake mentioned Avery wanting to learn to play the piano and I offered to teach him on Mondays when I'm off."

"We don't generally let them go to the pool with a sitter, but if you come on Mondays, the two of you could take them to the club to swim as well."

"That sounds fun," Kurt said.

"So, what no one has talked about is the pay. We've sent both of them to camp before and they hated it. The camps run them ragged and they want to chill out and read or draw or play in their own yard. We're willing to pay $450 a week, provided Oliver gets a 30-minute guitar lesson and you watch him practice 30 minutes a day, Avery gets a 30-minute piano lesson with Kurt and Sam watches him practice 30-minutes a day the other days. And Sam gives them daily art lessons for however long they want to do art projects each day. I'm not expecting them become the next Renoir and Picasso, but there are right ways to do things and wrong ways. Art is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, but paint can only be applied to certain surfaces and different glues and brushes are for different things. I want them to learn how to properly use the tools we get them. Oh, and they have soccer practice every Friday from 2:00-4:00. So, you'd need to take them to the soccer field and stay there while they practice."

Brett sat there thinking for a few minutes.

"Oh, and we'll get a Michael's gift card for you to buy them the art supplies they need. We don't know what to get, but we definitely don't expect you to pay for what they need. So, a weekly trip to Michael's will be on the agenda. Maybe on Mondays when the two of you come. It's easier to shop if there are two people in a store like that because they each see something amazing, and zoom - they've disappeared."

Kurt laughed. "I bet."

"I'll go up and make sure there isn't anything else Drake wanted to say and I'll let you think about it for a few minutes." He went upstairs and left Kurt and Sam alone in the living room.

"What do you think?" Kurt asked.

"Well, I didn't expect to make you have to be part of it."

"I don't mind that. I love being with you and I like kids. You know that."

"But Kurt does the braids differently, Sammy. Can't you do them like Kurt does?'" Sam imitated Stacey's voice.

"Hush, you. She did not say that."

"She most certainly did. She thinks you're the most 'awesomest' person. Her words. Of course, she's right."

"Off topic. $450 is really reasonable, actually way more than reasonable. You'd only make between $260 and $270 a week working for minimum wage."

"I just thought about something. I probably won't have any health insurance once I start working and making that much money. Ugh."

"We'll figure it out. First just figure out whether you want to watch Avery and Oliver."

"I like them. This will be a lot more fun than working fast food or retail, and for way more money."

"Alright, then when one of them comes back down, you can tell them."

A couple of minutes later, Drake came back down the stairs. "You've gotten two thumbs up from the peanut gallery. And two yeses from us."

Sam laughed. "So, I'm moving on to the live shows? Oh, no. That's only if I get the golden buzzer."

"Actually, we'd like the two of you to come back Saturday and spend the afternoon here before you start next Monday. We'd like to be here the first time you stay and play with them to help ease the transition of how we do things around here and where everything is. Would 12-4 work on Saturday? We'll pay you for your time."

Sam looked at Kurt, who nodded. "Sure. We can come on Saturday."

"I should have asked first. You did decide you'd like to watch them, right?"

"Yes."

"Excellent. We'll see you Saturday then. Thanks so much for being willing to hang out so long this evening. It's hard to leave your kids with someone new."

"I can imagine. I wouldn't let just anyone watch my little brother and sister."

Kurt and Sam stood up and walked to the door. Drake walked them out to the sidewalk.

Sam turned, "See you Saturday."

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Tuesday morning came too early for Kurt's liking, but they got up and got dressed. Sam dropped him off at work. He spent the first hour filling out paperwork and online forms. He opted for the health insurance for both of them, even though it would take a chunk out of his check. He knew that they couldn't go uninsured and since Sam had graduated, he'd aged out of the state program he had been in.

He spent the rest of the day learning the layout of the garage and getting a feel for how the shop worked. He got his coveralls and was glad to find out that they would sent out to be laundered and he just had a pin-on nametag, which would save him from having to spend money to wash them every evening.

Sam spent the day working on a new painting and looking at maps of the area, trying to learn his way around. He mapped out the best ways to get to the places they'd go to most often and took screenshots to study.

He cooked in between painting. He had dinner in the oven on warm when he went to pick Kurt up at the end of the day.

Kurt got in the car and sighed.

"That bad?"

"Nope, not bad at all. Just tired. It's been quite a while since I did any of that stuff and walking may be good exercise, it doesn't improve my ability to lift tires or push tool cabinets around."

Kurt closed his eyes and rested on the drive home.

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"Smells great. Do I have time for a shower?"

"Hmm. I will feel left out if you shower without me."

Kurt laughed.

"It's true. I've decided that showering alone is very boring."

"Alright then. I'll just wash my hands a few more times and we can eat first."

They ate and cleaned up afterwards and headed to the shower. They put pajama pants on and Kurt sat down at his desk with all of the papers he had brought home and did a bunch of calculations.

He brought his notes to the kitchen table. Sam came over and sat with him.

"So, I've done all the math. We talked about opening a joint account and depositing an agreed upon amount into the joint account."

Sam nodded.

"We were going to keep our personal accounts and deposit an equal amount of discretionary funds into them each month."

"Yeah."

"And then we were talking about a savings account to put the remainder of our paychecks into."

"Right."

"I already have one savings account that I've been using as an emergency fund. The money I made selling my Navigator. I'd like to add your name to that account and go ahead and open a second savings account."

"Why?"

"I'd like to keep adding to the emergency fund, but I also want us to save for things that we want to do like take a vacation now and then. Like this summer, Brett and Drake will have two weeks off between the end of the summer term and the beginning of the fall term. They won't need you to watch the boys then. We could take a vacation during that time. It would have to be something small this year because we won't have time to save up that much. But next year we could go someplace either at the break between summer and fall or over winter break."

"I think I'd like to split the check I got for my paintings between the emergency fund and the new savings account. I want to be responsible, but I'd also like to do something fun with you with part of it."

"We could do the same thing with the check the Warblers gave us. We actually need to cash that soon. Checks aren't good forever. We could deposit part of it into the emergency fund and part into the savings account."

"I like that idea."

"So, I've calculated and you'll need to deposit $600 into the joint account, $50 into your personal account and the other $70 however we decide between the savings and the emergency fund. I'll deposit $850 into the joint account, $50 in to my own personal account and the other $100 between our other two accounts."

"Okay."

"I thought I'd be able to contribute more, but signing up for health insurance took a chunk out that I hadn't factored in. But it's fine. We'll still be able to pay everything easily."

"We're working a lot this summer. What are we doing with that extra money?"

"I figured the emergency fund. If the shop burns down or Brett and Drake suddenly move out of town, we'd need a way to cover our rent for the time it takes to find a new job."

"That sounds reasonable." Sam pulled out his phone. "So, I'll be depositing a little over $2800 into the emergency fund."

"Sounds about right. So we're agreed?"

"Sure. I knew that it would be this way. I'm not upset. We'll be fine like you said and it's not like I'm putting in $100 and you're putting in $1000. It's not that far apart. I don't feel like a mooch or anything."

"Good. Because we're a team. I know money issues is one of the top causes for people's marriages disintegrating."

Sam took his hand. "I'm in this for keeps. Money has been a struggle for a long time for me, but it's not now. We'll be fine." He pulled Kurt's hand up and kissed his knuckles.

"We are employed. Both of us. We'll be tired, but we'll pay our own way." He turned and put his hands on each side of Sam's face and ran his thumbs down his cheeks and kissed him. He got out of his chair and moved into Sam's lap and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck. He laid his head down and sat there. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist.

"Let's move to the couch. Twisting your back like that can't be comfortable."

Kurt stood up and they moved to the couch.

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They enjoyed Saturday at Drake and Brett's with the boys. The next week Sam started watching them every day and they adjusted their lives into a new rhythm.

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The week after Sam's first full week on the job, Carole and Burt flew into NYC and rented a car and drove to see them. They planned to arrive at the apartment not long after Kurt and Sam got home from work. They had showered quickly and redressed before Burt and Carole arrived.

They heard a knock on the door at 7:00 and Kurt answered and let them in.

"Come on inside," Kurt said.

"Oh, honey it's lovely. The pictures were great, but seeing it in person is much better. You guys have done a great job with the place."

She hugged each of them first, and then Burt followed with a bear hug for each of them.

"Thanks."

"So, where do you two want to go to dinner?"

"Actually we don't know. We've not been out anywhere. We got fast food salads once the day we moved in and ordered a pizza in the next evening, but other than that, we've just cooked here at home."

"Well, then, let's just get in the car and drive to wherever there's a shopping area and pick someplace. There's gotta be some places like Applebee's or a steak place or a Mexican place."

The four of them headed back out the door and down to the parking lot.

"There are. We've just not paid attention. We're working to build up our savings, and not spend too much. We've found some nice parks. We pack picnics and eat them when we go out."

They all got in the rental car and Kurt directed his dad which way to go. They found a nice Mexican restaurant and had dinner there. Burt talked about what he had been doing in Washington, DC. Carole talked about some things she had been doing and a little about Finn. Sam and Kurt talked about their jobs and the upcoming school year. Kurt excitedly told them about Sam's successful art show.

After they finished eating, Burt had Kurt and Sam pick a movie from a Redbox and they headed back to the apartment to watch it together.

"Well, that was an interesting take on the Oz story," Carole said.

"It was," Sam agreed.

"So, what are you two doing tomorrow? I'm sorry we don't have the ability to take days off from work. With what Sam does, taking personal days off really doesn't work and I haven't worked at the shop long enough to have earned any personal days since this is the end of my second week working there."

"It's fine. We understand," Carole said. "Don't worry about us. We'll find something to do to entertain ourselves or we'll just lounge around all day, which is something neither of us gets to do very often."

Burt stood up and Carole followed him. They walked over to the door.

"We'll leave you two to get packed. I'm looking forward to the trip to the mountains tomorrow evening. We'll meet you at the lodge at 7:30. Just give us a call if you're running late. We may just head out that way tomorrow afternoon and stop and look at stuff along the way."

Kurt got up and let them out, giving each of them another hug. "Thanks for coming. We'll see you tomorrow evening." Kurt closed the door, but had stepped outside first. Neither of them noticed. He heard them talking as they headed down the stairs.

"Burt, they are perfect together. I'm so glad for Kurt. He is absolutely himself with Sam. I didn't know what to expect, but that wasn't it I guess. Sam is so secure in himself. I guess I expected him to be hesitant about being with Kurt romantically. But he was just the same as he was the whole time he lived with us. They are so good together."

"I know. I told you that from what I saw back in December. Even back then, I knew it was going to be okay. I never liked you-know-who. I tried. I really tried for Kurt's sake. I didn't want to be THAT parent and lose him. But Kurt was always trying too hard with him, like Kurt had to somehow be better than the amazing kid he already was. But him with Sam is a million times better. Sam loves Kurt, all of Kurt." Both car doors shut and

Kurt didn't hear anything else, but it was enough. His dad was right. This was a million times better.

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He opened the door and went back inside to be greeted by a smiling Sam who pushed the door shut, pinning Kurt between the door and himself. He reached down and locked the door and slid his arm back up by Kurt's shoulders.

"I missed you."

"I was gone not even 5 minutes." Kurt laughed.

"Meh. Time is irrelevant. I was alone and I missed you."

Kurt kissed him and wrapped his arms around him. He nuzzled his nose into Sam's neck and hugged him.

Sam slipped his phone out of his pocket and connected to the Bluetooth speaker and music started to play. He wrapped his arms around Kurt and pulled him away from the door gently and started slow dancing around the living room. He eventually meandered their steps in the direction of the bathroom and began to unbutton Kurt's shirt.

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Kurt lay on his side facing the center of the bed. Sam had turned off the lights and got into bed and started to scoot back against Kurt to be the little spoon.

"Turn this way for a bit, okay?"

Sam turned over and faced him. Kurt scooted closer and kissed him, gently, not with the intent of starting anything. He ran his hands through Sam's hair and kissed him again. He ran his thumb along Sam's cheek gently touching his face. He had known what he heard his parents say, but hearing them say it really brought it all to the forefront of his mind.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For taking such a huge risk and loving me. You left everything behind and took a chance. You came to me when I had been barely functioning. You brought me back to life. When you came – just the energy you brought with you through the door as you walked in. You hugged me. A genuine hug – it started filling the cracks immediately. I had missed you, but I had been so drained by that point that I was just getting by day to day. I had loved you as a friend for ages. And now, this, between us, it's… It's just everything. Every good word I can think of. Tomorrow we will have been together for six months. The best six months of my life." Kurt scooted and pressed in closer.

"Mine too." Sam rolled onto his back, pulling Kurt with him to sleep on him. Sam smiled and ran his hand through Kurt's hair. He smiled and kissed Kurt on the top of his head. "I love you."

Kurt realized that he had everything he had ever wanted. "I love you too."

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"Down, Charlie. Down!" Burt said.

Kurt walked over and picked Charlie up. "If you'd come more often, he wouldn't go out of his mind crazy every time he sees you. Indianapolis isn't that far from Lima."

"I know, I know. Put him back down. You're going to pull something in your back. He weighs like 50 pounds now and he's still squirming."

Kurt put him back down on the ground and chastised him gently. "Charlie, sit. Can't you behave yourself? Look at Stanley. He's minding."

Burt laughed at him. He sat on the couch next to Carole and Charlie was in his lap almost instantly. "Fine, fine. You win." Burt scratched him behind the ears and rubbed him.

"So, 10 years."

"Yep – 10 fabulous years."

"It's hard to believe that you've been married almost as long as we have," Carole said.

"Where's Sam?" Burt asked.

"He's out back finishing up the burgers."

"Oh, well let's go out back with him," Carole said as she got up.

They all went out back. Charlie started jumping up on Sam.

"Now, you see why Charlie was inside. He has no manners at all and he was making it hard for Sam to do the grilling."

"They're done. Let's put the two of them in the pen while we eat. There's just no chance he's going to calm down enough not to be a pest," Sam said.

Kurt grabbed Charlie's collar and led him inside the pen and called for Stanley. He shut the gate after they were both inside. He whispered. "Don't worry. I'll save you a burger." He went back up and sat at the table with the other three.

"You promised him a burger, didn't you?" Sam's eyes sparkled as he laughed.

"Hush, you."

"Don't worry. We already know you spoil him," Carole said.

"So, how are things at the clinic going?"

"Really well. We're pretty much full on the number of clients we can take. Kurt's still doing the music classes at the retirement community and I still do classes with the preschoolers there. It's an interesting idea having the preschool at the retirement home. The elderly people love the energy of the kids and the kids love all of the attention that gets paid to them. Sometimes parents get so busy they forget to listen and what the elderly residents have is plenty of time to listen."

"It's a good match," Kurt said. "We've seen really withdrawn kids come out of their shells after a few weeks. Elderly people that hadn't spoken to anyone in ages are reading books to kids. It's really cool."

"We have our regular therapy clients at the office too still. So, we're busy, but we really like it."

"Well, I can't say that I had ever even heard of art therapy or music therapy before the two of you started talking about it before you went to graduate school. But it seems like a really good fit for the two of you and makes a difference for people," Burt said.

"It really can," Kurt said.

"Have your parents been to see your new place yet?"

"Yeah, they came last weekend actually. It was a surprise. It was the first weekend of spring break for Stacey and they picked Stevie up from college and stayed for the weekend. It was a quick visit, but it was nice. Stacey's graduating this year. We'll be heading down to Clarksville for that the first weekend in June. She's wanted to go to that fancy aquarium in Newport for ages, so we're taking here there for the day on Sunday."

"That sounds like fun," Carole said. "It's hard to believe she's graduating. The last time I saw her she was about, what, 7?"

"That's about right. We left Lima when I was 17, so she would have been 7." Sam pulled his phone out and showed her pictures from the previous weekend.

"You all look so good. She and Stevie are all grown up." She held the phone were Burt could see.

"Any other plans? You know the distance isn't any different to come to Ohio," Burt said.

"Yeah, but no one wants me there. And we can't be ourselves there."

"I get it, but will you at least be coming to Finn's wedding? He said he hadn't gotten a response from you two when I asked him."

"I don't know what to do, Dad. It's not that I don't want to attend Finn's wedding. It's just that I don't really care to see a lot of the other people that Finn has invited. I know it's been over 10 years since I've seen most of them, but I have no interest in seeing most of them."

"I get that, but Finn is family," Burt said.

"What about this?" Kurt offered, "We'll come. We'll slip in the back right before the processional music. And we'll leave before the recessional music."

"I guess if that's they best you can offer," Burt said.

"Burt, honey. Let me talk to Finn about this too. I'm pretty sure he invited everyone from the old Glee group. He's kept in contact with most of them over the years. And I love Finn, I do. But you know as well as I do that he and Kurt have never been close. He's never really gotten over all of their high school stuff. It's not Kurt's doing. It's Finn's. Driving five hours in one day to spend 30 minutes in a pew is asking a lot of them."

Burt nodded. "Any other news?"

"Well, Stacey accepted her admission to Purdue. Stevie loves it at IU, but Stacey wants to study engineering, so she's going to be in West Lafayette in the fall. The 21st Century Scholars program is really cool."

"Well, good for her," Carole said.

"I knew that Stevie was studying somewhere here in Indiana, but I didn't know they had gotten scholarships. That's really great," Burt said.

"Sebastian and Marcos are performing here in a couple of weeks and then they're coming to stay with us for a week this summer before the European tour starts in July."

"I'm sure you're looking forward to that," Carole said.

"We are. It won't be as much fun as him living next door all summer every year like when we were in college and graduate school. We miss having him around. But I'm glad he's getting to do what he loves."

They ate and talked and eventually Kurt let the dogs back out of the pen and they had their treats. They sat outside and talked for a while. Burt played ball with the two dogs for a while.

"So, are you ready for the tour. We kind of bypassed it to eat since the food was done when you got here."

"Sure. Lead the way," Carole said.

They went back in the way they had come out.

"So, this is obviously the dining room and the kitchen. We still need to pick up a couple of more chairs or give up and buy four that go together," Kurt laughed. "We've looked for ages and we've never found any that match these two."

"So, back through here into the living room – as you can see we've added a couple of end tables."

"We picked those up at a yard sale and fixed them up," Sam added.

"And we got a loveseat so more people could sit down without having to resort to sitting on the floor. We're getting old." Kurt feigned lean on a cane. "It's also a sofa bed."

"I like it," Carole said. "It looks good with the couch."

"Down the hall we have the two bedrooms." Kurt pointed to the room on the right. "This is our room." He turned and pointed to the left, "And this is our creative room."

Burt and Carole stepped inside. "This is nice," she said. "You can keep all of your stuff out and ready to use. The piano is a nice addition. I know you had been looking forward to the day when you could get a real piano instead of a keyboard."

"I love it. There's just this difference in playing a real piano. That table is actually a Murphy bed. The table part folds up, then the whole thing folds down from the wall and turns into a queen sized bed for guests. Our room has it's own bathroom and there's the bathroom in the hall, but other than the garage with our car in it, that's it. That's the end of the tour. Oh, well there's a laundry room off the kitchen, which I actually love more than is probably reasonable, but doing the laundry without having to go outside to a laundromat or to the laundry area in another building is really nice."

"Well, I think you did great," Burt said. "It's everything the two of you need and you saved up and bought it. I'm proud of the two of you."

They went back into the living room and talked for a while. By early evening, Burt and Carole had to head back to Ohio.

"We're glad you came," Kurt said.

"We are too, honey. I'm so glad that the two of you have each other." She hugged each of them.

"Happy 10th anniversary," Burt said and he pulled each of them into a bear hug on his way to the door.

Kurt and Sam stood on their front porch and waved as they drove off.

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Kurt shut and locked the door behind him as he came back inside. Sam sat on the sofa.

"C'mere."

Kurt walked over to him.

"Sit on my lap."

Kurt put a knee on each side and sat down on Sam's lap. Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and gently pulled Kurt toward him. Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam's neck, nuzzled in, and relaxed.

"Thank you," Sam said.

"For what?"

"For marrying me 10 years ago. I love you."

"Mmm. I love you too." Kurt hummed happily. "Best decision ever."

"I feel the same way. We did it. We have jobs we love. We got the two dogs and the house. No debt, like we had decided on. I know we've only been here in the house two months, but I already love it here. It's perfect."

"It is."


End file.
